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TEMPLE HOUSE 


A NOVEL 


BY V 

ELIZABETH STODDARD 

V 

AUTHOR OF “two MEN,” “THE MORGESONS,” ETC. 


REVISED EDITION, 


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PHILADELPHIA : 

HENRY T. COATES & CO. 

1901 


THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

AUG. 15 1901 

CoPVRIOHT ENTPV 

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CLASS Q^XXc. N*. 

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COPY B. 


COPYRIGHT 

henry T. COATES & CO. 


1901 


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The sunset is original every evening, though for thousands of 
years it has built out of the same light and vapor its visionary 
cities with domes and pinnacles and its delectable mountains which 
night shall abase and destroy. — Lowell. 

It is this formless idea of something at hand that keeps men 
and women striving to tear from the bosom of the world the secret 
of their own hopes , — VoN Arnim, 




To 

MRS. KATHARINE HOOKER 

Of Los Angeles, California 

THESE NOVELS ARE DEDICATED IN GRATEFUL 
REMEMBRANCE OF A KiND DeED 


ELIZABETH STODDARD 






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TEMPLE HOUSE 


CHAPTER I. 

E arly one autumn morning, on his forty-first 
birthday, Argus Gates walked down the old 
turfy lawn, and felt immortal in his human powers. 
The elms above him dropped warning leaves, the 
silver cobwebs in the grass vanished beneath his 
tread, and the sere grass rose not again ; but Aurora 
was in the sky. The stalwart, willing earth dipped 
beneath her chariot wheels, to lave in the rays 
flooding from those eyes fixed in 

“ The ever silent spaces of the East,” 

and Argus was one with the earth. 

The balm of fading leaves distilled in the globed 
dew, the soft, moveless shadow of every object 
round him, the verdure tinged with the hues 
of autumn, the red light spreading over him, played 
upon his sensibilities, which were those of a fine 
and well-endowed animal ; but his imagination was 
not touched, nor his heart elevated. Perhaps he 
was devoid of both. He went down the steps plant- 
ed in front of the bank, and looked over the gate 
into the road some feet below. At that moment a 


I 


2 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


man passed, who, happening to raise his eyes, met 
those of Argus ; he halted, and pushing back his 
tarpaulin, said, in a cheerful voice : 

“ Mornin’ air agrees with you, Capen.” 

Argus nodded but made no reply, and continued 
to swing his cane over the railing. 

“ Harbor’s smooth as a pike pond, but you 
don’t venture on’t, no right to — shut off from a 
sight on’t, walled in, and fenced in, and treed in. 
Did the town gully down the end of the street to 
please you? Why don’t it pull down old Freeman’s 
warehouse between you and the quay, and you pull 
down that mess of mortar against it ? Your folks 
might like a sight of the salt water, and they’d 
get it by — going up stairs.” 

“ Keep the salt water for yourself. Mat,” answered 
the captain at last, “ and go down the gully as the ? 
town directs, unless you had rather climb King’s • 
Hill, and roll over the plantain beds, to get to your j 
stevedoring.” I 

“ I’ve got a chance on the Lucindy. What do ? 
you think of that ere craft ? Arter she’s caulked, I t 
think I’ll retire too.” But Argus had disappeared, 
and Mat’s eyes could not follow him an inch beyond • 
the gate, even from the masts of the Lucinda, which • 
lay alongside the quay, a few rods from the house ; , 
the roof and the tree-tops were all he could see. 

Argus paused beneath one of the elms, and peered • 
into its branches ; the birds whose departure he i 
was watching had gone ; no twitter escaped from 
the rough nests adorned with ribbons of seaweed. | 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


3 


Slightly musing on the probability of the return of 
the same family in spring, he slowly mounted the 
porch steps. As he went into the house the go3^“ 
dess of the morning disappeared, amidst the clatter 
of the small demons which preside over domestic 
affairs, and like the chameleon take the hue of those 
who compel their service. Simultaneously with 
opening the door of the kitchen, — a barn-like 
apartment — Roxalana, his sister-in-law, drawled in 
a fine, singularly unimpassioned voice : 

I am about out of the suds, Argus. Your cof- 
fee waits by the fire, clear as crystal, but my 
Johnny-cake is burnt. It is impossible for me to 
say where Tempe is. She pretended that our clock 
was wrong, and said she would find the right time. 
With this excuse she managed to get out by six 
o’clock. Wash-day has no particular charm for her.” 

“ Nor for you, 1 judge,” he replied, seating him- 
self at a small table between the windows. She 
swung round slowly, and lifted her head, — a strange 
one, ringed with a mass of dense black hair — passed 
her hands up and down her bare, well-shaped arms, 
shook the skirt of her ragged gown, and said: 

“ Naturally, I am lazy ; necessity only drives me 
to industry.” 

Taking the coffee from the fire, she poured a cup 
which she handed to Argus, who took it with his 
left hand, for he still held his cane with the right. 

“ Tempe is romping, you remarked, Roxalana. 
She is a proper jade. But it is better out of doors, 
consequently she is where it is better.” 


4 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


Roxalana laughed a noiseless laugh, which in no 
wise lighted up her dark, handsome face. 

She will have several races before sundown,’' 
she said, taking a chair at the table; “ but her 
romping days will soon be over. Do you realize 
that her birthdays are counting up as well as ours, 
Argus ? ” 

Why don’t you marry her, and tie her runaway 
feet? Matrimony puts an end to the antics of 
your sex, and begins ours.” 

Hush, Argus, she is on the stairs ; keep your 
doctrines for me, not for her.” 

Tempe fluttered in with the air of a blackbird. 
Her hair was black, like her mother’s, as ruffled, 
but less abundant, and more beautiful; her face 
pale and delicate; her eyes large, black, and con- 
stantly darting sharp, inquisitive glances. 

“ What am I now ? ” she asked; “ a child, a jade, 
a witch, or a hussy? ” 

Argus threw his cane at her, which she caught 
adroitly, and put in a corner. 

“ If you have not quite run yourself out of breath, 
Tempe,” her mother interposed, “ I advise you to 
take your breakfast.” 

“ Yes, mother, give me my coffee ; they have 
better breakfast at Mat Sutcliffe’s every day than 
this. Uncle, is your fare pleasant?” 

“ Silence ! ” he answered; “ don’t call me uncle,” 
mimicking her voice, because I am this woman’s 
brother-in-law.” 

As this was merely his way the sally passed un- 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


5 


noticed, and breakfast was dispatched. Argus 
spent the forenoon in the house, looking from the 
windows, smoking, kicking the wood on the fire, 
and watching Roxalana, who finished the week’s 
wash with composure and ease, regardless of his 
presence. Tempe flitted in and out, slammed doors 
in all parts of the house, moved a piece of furni- 
ture now and then, and finally settled herself to 
stringing beads on horse-hair. At midday a plain 
dinner was served at the same table, at which Rox- 
alana presided with parboiled hands and the dignity 
of a Zenobia. In the afternoon Argus went up the 
street into town, and Tempe disappeared also. 
Roxalana rested from her labors. She sat so 
motionless in her straight-backed chair that a mouse 
stole out and ran across her foot. At dark she 
arranged her thick hair, and changed her coarse 
dress for one of dark material, made in a fashion 
she had worn for years. Lighting a pair of candles 
she carried them across the wide hall into a large 
room with four windows, facing the town and the 
garden. Its walls were hung with green velvet 
paper, somewhat frayed and discolored ; damask- 
covered sofas with claws and scrolls stood between 
the windows ; and a ponderous mahogany table oc- 
cupied the centre of the room. Upon this table 
Roxalana set the candles. She then unlocked a 
glass cabinet in the wall, took out some fragile 
china, a spindle-legged silver tea-set, and arranged 
them carefully for supper. An array of sweet- 
meats, sweet cakes, and delicate biscuit was 


6 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


added, which she viewed with a solemn satisfac- 
tion. 

When Argus and Tempe came home she made 
tea at the table with a ceremony which contrasted 
strongly with the work and behavior of the day. 
They sat at the table a long time, and this was an 
invariable custom, — the sweetmeats, the sweet 
cakes, the ceremony, being an absolute law and 
bond between these three persons who lived in 
Temple House. 


CHAPTER II. 

T he house of Argus Gates stood at the end of 
an almost unused street, in the populous town 
of Kent, once a great seaport. In the old Province 
records there is a volume of actions in which Kent 
Bay and Kent Bar figure ; their storms and dis- 
asters are the memorial treasures of the present 
time. The old laws so arbitrarily provided for the 
encroachments, changes, accidents of the sea, its 
shoals, sands, and rocks that the inhabitants of 
Kent have ever since rested upon their provisions, 
and look for no geographical change. Meantime 
commerce has gone elsewhere. Mariners fouad 
the White Flat dangerous, the harbor not navigable, 
the coast one to be avoided. A hundred younger 
towns on the Atlantic coast now surpass Kent ; her 
sails are passing sails, her hulls wrecked hulls rot- 
ting in the sand. The old piers have tumbled in 
and fallen apart ; black seaweeds are rooted in 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


7 


their own decayed beds on the foundations ; and 
patches of sorrel grow in the gravelly tops. The 
warehouses are silent along the water-side ; their 
derricks rattle and swing in the wind, like empty 
gibbets. The aristocracy of Kent, as well as its 
crowd of laborers, has vanished, leaving its noble 
names to monuments, streets and hills. The old 
estates are worse than obliterated ; straggling 
lanes, crumbling tenements, and pasture tracts rep- 
present an ancient r^gime^ which boasted of the ex- 
iled names of Raleigh, Halifax, and Brooks. From 
King’s Hill, opposite Temple House, to Apsley 
River, where Cyrus Brande’s forge stood, Kent was 
in no wise the proud, dictatorial, prosperous Kent 
of former times. Still the business of ordinary life 
flourished ; there was buying and selling ; the land 
was tilled, the sea harvested. Religion, the Su- 
preme Court, the newspapers, marriage, birth, and 
death, were all established in the old town. 

Kent was not the birth-place of Argus. Temple 
House had come to him when a young man, by the 
unexpected will of a distant relative, whom he had 
never heard of till he heard the tidings of his pos- 
session as the last heir. Being about to sail on his 
first voyage as captain, he sent his wife, to whom 
he had not been married long, to take possession of 
the house, and departed with the determination to 
settle in Kent, and seek further fortune from that 
port. His wife was dismayed at the size and 
splendor of the house. It was full of antique fur- 
niture, comfortless rubbish, in her estimation. 


8 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


Some of it she sold, some she broke up and burned, 
the remainder she packed in the garret with the 
portrait of Madame Temple, the donor of the 
house, and several other umber-colored pictures. 
Argus was a poor man, and his wages, which were 
those of a captain of a merchantman, only furnished 
the necessities of life ; consequently she could not 
replace the old furniture with new, and Temple 
House was never, in the common acceptation of 
the term, furnished. She only used the great 
kitchen, and the green room before spoken of, 
which she made habitable with the articles belong- 
ing to her simple wedding outfit. Considering the 
sea the natural grave of her family, she could not 
endure the sight of it, and was thankful for the 
long espalier, the stone-mortared wall behind it, 
and the high warehouse which screened the quay, 
and almost shut out every glimpse of the bay. 
She loved the old summer-house best, and strayed 
with the old, old Provence and Damask roses, her- 
self as sweet and wild a rose. A beautiful lawn 
stretched to the edge of the bank at the back of 
which the house was built, so she saw nothing of 
the life in the street below ; it was pleasanter for 
that. When not in the garden that first long sum- 
mer, she was in the green room watching the elms 
on the lawn. So she lived, waiting for the return of 
Argus. 

In due time he came, and looked at his property 
with amazement. It was the broken and depre- 
ciated estate of the last member of a “ first family." 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


9 


This was attested by the town records, which he 
looked into for the purpose of discovering the an- 
tecedents of Madame Temple. Her portrait was 
brought out, and he made a study of it to see what 
was buried in her face, and if there was any affinity 
between them. It proved a sphinx in both particu- 
lars, but Argus hung it in its old place in the hall. 
When his wife told him what she had done with 
the belongings of the house he turned red, as if 
some of the Temple blood tingled in his veins after 
all, but he only laughed and chucked her under the 
chin. Musing upon the matter, he concluded not to 
discuss the subject ; the house must remain a ruin ; 
which he could not expect her to be happy in. 
Though feeling a blind compunction towards her, 
his resolve never changed. Nor did he speak of the 
presentiment which clung to him, that in this ruin, 
whatever the vicissitudes of the coming years, he 
should end his life. 

One day, just before he went to sea again, when 
the garden paths were full of rustling leaves, and 
only the thorns grew on the rose-trees, they walked 
to the summer-house, and having a brighter, hap- 
pier feeling towards the place, she kissed him, and 
told him she loved the garden, and would think the 
summer-house her own domain. She could not 
love the old desolate haunted house, however ; it 
was not fit for poor young people like them- 
selves. Its echo of grandeur could not make up 
for its want of comfort ; but she would not com- 
plain. Argus kissed her, but was silent. No, she 


lO 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


repeated, she would never complain ; not if he 
chose to hang the umber-colored pictures in the 
very room where she slept. 

“ Let us get the lay of the land, now that we are 
out,” he said abruptly. ** I believe I do not under- 
stand the premises thoroughly.” 

They crossed the garden, went around the 
grounds, and looked at the outside bounds. Argus 
described and named every spot, as though he was 
making a chart. On the town side they were shut 
in by an alley, along which stood a row of mean 
houses, whose sheds and yards came up to the 
empty stables and out-buildings inside the wall. 
A door, padlocked in it, communicated with the 
alley at the upper end. Beyond the premises at 
the rear, where poplar and buttonwood trees grew, 
wild, grassy pastures stretched, marshy towards the 
high shores of the bay, and hilly towards the 
town. On all sides they were shut in from the 
bay, the town, and the common business of 
life. Argus was so well satisfied with his sur- 
vey, that he was on the point of expressing his 
satisfaction, but seeing that his wife's eyes were 
fixed on the high dormer windows, higher than 
King’s Hill even, he forbore. They wandered 
back to the garden to sit in the summer-house 
again, and once more kissed each other with those 
kisses which for a moment disenthrall mortals from 
the burden and influence of the universe. 

The yellow twilight creeping round them, the 
flame-edged clouds rolling down with sunset, the 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


II 


inarticulate noise of tree and bush, the sound of 
the drowsy sea pushing on Kent beach a mile away 
were always remembered by Mrs. Gates ; perhaps 
Argus also treasured the hour in his memory. At 
last they went into the house, and their mood nat- 
urally slipped away. She busied herself with sup- 
per, while Argus stood in the embrasure of the 
green-room window, and continued his mental in- 
ventory of his property. 

It was possible that the ownership of Temple 
House influenced the temporal affairs of Argus more 
than he supposed. A vessel was offered him, within 
a year from this time, and a venture in the cargo, 
which he accepted, and made money by. Mean- 
time his wife had departed. Swiftly and silently 
her brief, short life ended. He found her grave in 
the high hill yard where the Temple ancestry slept 
— her closed eyes and deaf ears insensible to the 
sight and sound of shore and sea, to obtain which 
the living often sought the hill. From the day that 
Argus went there, he hated the scene which broke 
upon his vision. The raging white surf beating on 
the white beach, that darted like a tongue from the 
headland below the town ; the sand-stained ripples 
of the one, and the roaring waves of the other ; 
the barren capes, stretching into the circle of the 
sea ; the restless clouds spreading and swelling by 
the winds, borrowed his grief, and mirrored it in 
his mind. It was a moment when nature seemed 
capable to lead the soul to death and hold it there. 

He remained a month or two alone in Temple 


12 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


House, brooding over his past, or, it may be, plan- 
ning his future, no one really knew which. Cyrus 
Brande, the only man who was intrusted with his 
affairs, pretended ignorance when questioned con- 
cerning them. When Argus had been gone a week 
Mr. Brande circulated a report that the house 
would be closed for some time, and for information 
concerning Captain Gates, application must be 
made at the office of Brande’s Forge. Nobody 
applied, and no information was obtained at the 
office ; the clumsy key of the front door at Temple 
House hung on a nail for years. Meantime the 
velvet moss thickened on the roof ; the rose-trees 
and shrubs mixed their leaves with the black mold 
in the garden paths ; the mortar powdered in the 
crevices of the walls, and ran down like the sand 
in an hour-glass ; and the edges of the bank crum- 
bled and slid into the street, threatening to wear the 
lawn to its level before Argus returned. 

But he did return, taking the key of his house 
from Mr. Brande’s office as quietly as he brought 
it there. He found the town at work on his prem- 
ises, walling the bank from the quay below them to 
the corner of the alley above. His lawn gate now 
opened into the gully, which was so deep opposite 
— the other side being the walled portion of King’s 
Hill — that only a strip of sky could be seen over it. 
To make his house more suitable for solitary con- 
finement, he repaired his garden wall, replaced the 
old brick coping, and mended the roof with slate 
stones. 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


13 


CHAPTER III. 

N otwithstanding his isolation Argus be- 
came a noted man in Kent ; his manners and 
habits were closely observed and considered excep- 
tional. A mention of him between his acquaintance 
gave the positive idea that he was a man to be let 
alone. Yet there was something irresistible in the 
impression he made ; it seemed possible to confide 
to him one’s motives and acts. A history of his past 
life was invented to tally with the ideal of what 
the inventors might be, provided the opportunity 
and courage had been given. The tranquil toler- 
ance or the biting sarcasm which he offered in 
turn, presented small solution to the enigma of his 
character. But, Argus knew himself ; by his ex- 
periences he had arrived at an understanding of 
the traits which induced and which stifled them. 
The life he had chosen was at variance with those 
impressions his individuality continually caused. 
The conditions of feeling which he shunned, the 
agitations which crowd one hour to make the next 
vacant, he had the power to create. For himself, 
he was capable of enjoying his own atmosphere — 
that of a well-constituted man, whose perceptions, 
never attaining the beautiful, perhaps, dwell with 
content upon positive, narrow, sensuous facts. 
Argus, in the world, was very discerning, cautious, 
and, in spite of his coarseness and indifference, had 
a vein of courtesy which gained him at least an 


14 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


outward respect. He hated cant, and had a way 
of taking hold of the roots of a matter which made 
people afraid of their own hypocrisy. For the 
most part, no one ever questioned him about his 
affairs ; but one day, a man whom he had long 
known asked him if he was aware how near he was 
to his brother, George Gates, a younger brother, 
from whom he had been separated for years. Ar- 
gus for an instant felt his cane oscillate in his hand 
with the temptation to strike his informant ; but 
turning with a sharp laugh, he said : 

“ He is so near me, is he ? The handsome 
dog ! ” 

“ To tell you the truth. Captain, I saw him. 
Our brig ran into harbor not two hundred miles 
from this, and a party of us skippers went ashore. 
We hired a team and drove up the country for a 
lark, till we came to a place called Eastdale ; the 
first man I clapped eyes on was George Gates. 
By the Lord, sir, he was in full feather ; sleek as a 
porpoise. I felt riled, for he owes me five hundred 
dollars. Ten years ago we met in the West Indies, 
you know, and I followed him up. His father-in- 
law—” 

Argus started, broke the sentence in two — so he — 
“ has not been dead long ; he sold tobacco, snuff 
and spice. You’ve seen those speckled lizards in 
India ? There was a row of them in bottles of 
spirit in his window.” 

I know them ; but what of his she-lizard, the 
one out of the bottle ?” 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


15 


I did not introduce myself to Geoige ; you 
recollect he had a way, at times, that a man would 
not like to venture on. I reckon, however, that 
the old man’s death has unsettled him ; he’ll be off 
again to parts unknown before long, or I am much 
at fault.” 

A smile ran over the face of Argus at the 
thought that George, vagabond as he was, could 
still keep his friend and creditor. Smith, at bay. 

“ I thought 1 would tell you,” Smith continued. 
“ I bore in mind the goings-on of my brother, Bill, 
and tried to do as I would be done by.’' 

“ Hasn’t the devil seized Bill for good, yet ? ” 

“ You see, I have not talked it over with any- 
body.” 

‘‘ Did you not tell your wife your dream this 
morning ? or throw the pillow at her for guessing 
your thoughts ? Off a voyage, a man is trans- 
parent for a week or so, to his wife. But I am in- 
debted to you. Smith.” 

Smith laughed a horse-laugh, and turned away. 

Argus absently noted the way of the wind, as he 
leisurely walked towards home, stopping once to 
toss over a paper that fluttered in his path which 
looked like a handbill. He found Mrs. Bayley, a 
woman from the alley, who came daily to pre- 
pare his meals, and put the rooms in order, busy in 
the kitchen. 

“ I shall not need you for several days, Mrs. 
Bayley,” he said. I am off on a journey. Take 
the keys, and open the house again on Friday.” 


i6 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


** Yes sir. Would you wish any preparations 
made ; any other beds made up, or rooms put to 
rights ? ” 

You alley-strollers have heard a rumor. Do 
your best to spread it, and add something worthy 
your tongues.” 

‘‘ I’ve got hold of mighty little, I do beg leave 
to inform you. Captain Gates. I fetches and 
carries nothing.” 

The invisible air is clogged with the droppings 
of women’s fancies. Balls of gossip stick together 
like burrs, and fall on Truth’s stuffy gown as she 
passes,” 

Mary Sutcliffe said — ” 

He interrupted her with a few icy, cutting words, 
spoken in the smoothest of voices, which drove her 
from the room. He started immediately without 
any plan, expecting with every mile that the feeling 
which possessed him would explain itself ; but it 
evaded him. Had he really a desire to meet the 
only member of his family alive, except himself ? 
Was the voice of the Temple blood, thin as it 
might be, crying out in behalf of this reprobate 
brother, as handsome as Romeo, as dissolute as 
Antony, for whom in former times he had made 
many sacrifices ? Suppose George should propose 
the same again : suppose that he might choose to 
avail himself of the habitation which Temple House 
would offer, with the family that Smith hinted at ? 
Could such a thing be endured ? And Argus fell 
into a dream about the occupation of the house by 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


17 


some child growing up, and watching him, while 
he travelled towards the place where there were 
different mansions. 

At the Eastdale tavern he met George. He was 
smoking a cigar (which Argus instinctively knew 
was a first-rate one), in a black velvet cut-away 
coat and a white felt hat ; from his crown to the 
toe of his well-fitting boot an atmosphere of re- 
solved laziness emanated, which armed Argus 
against him, especially as he could not withhold a 
sentiment of admiration with it. In the face of 
George was fierceness, weakness, and an expectant, 
hungry look, in spite of his air of ease. 

‘‘Why, Arg, is that you below there? Come 
up," and he smiled, but at the same time bit 
through his cigar, with the surprise the sight of 
Argus occasioned. “ What sent you ? " 

“ The love of you," Argus answered, “ and an 
invitation from Marm Temple’s bones to come to 
her house. Have you done with your pranks? 
Could you amuse yourself in Kent ? " 

“ Pranks ! " George exclaimed ; “ my time has 
been passed in a serious manner. Do you share 
the vulgar judgment, that absence is the cloak for 
a man's iniquity ? Can not the vagrant member of 
the family have a purpose ? I’ll come to Kent to 
be wicked openly." 

Argus laughed. 

“ The hells and brothels never touch on the prod- 
igal son, and the husk business, do they ? Have 
they changed since your green and salad days ? " 


i8 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


George touched his smooth, handsome fore- 
head, extended his fair hand, opened and shut the 
fingers. 

“ The husk business is extinct,” he answered. 

Argus took a chair inside the veranda railing, 
and politely asked George for a light. It was po- 
litely given, and the two smoked in silence, looking 
toward the horizon. 

“ Say, Arg,” exclaimed George, turning sud- 
denly, “what’s come to your hair?” 

“ Pooh ! something went ; what could come to 
mel Your plays and novels allot nothing to mid- 
dle-aged people. A life accessory to the illusions 
of others at most — the gray background to their 
reds and greens. I don’t urge, with Shylock, that 
if we are pricked, we bleed, if we are poisoned, we 
die.” 

“ I am past thirty, and would be as drunk with 
life as ever, if I could but reach the draught.” 

He let his hand fall lightly on Argus’s shoulder, 
and Argus made a slight movement by which it 
slid off. 

“How is that abode of the Temple ghosts,” 
George continued, “ the tabernacle on a hill ? By 
the way, I am married ; there’s a little girl, too. 
I named her Temple, ridiculous name — but I hon- 
ored the gods. Did you know this ? ” 

“ All Kent knows it ; from your friend Moll 
Sutcliffe, to your ancient chum. Smith. This must 
be the reason I came ; I know no other.” 

“All Kent,” repeated George, rising, and indi- 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


19 


eating to Argus to follow. “ I never loved that 
good old town. I ate dirt there, and shook what 
was left from my flesh. I have rolled round the 
world since, and in spite have gathered a certain 
mossiness, and, as one must bring up somewhere, 
brought up at Eastdale. Why not, Argus? I 
found my wife here ; she grew into that estate 
by my typhoid fever, which caught and held me in 
the port below. And this is where we live. Enter 
the long lost brother.” 

Argus's first thought was, when he saw Rox- 
alana, that she was the last woman George would 
have chosen ; but when he heard her clear voice, 
and fine accent, he forgave himself for having 
met her. She received him with perfect self- 
possession, and pushing little Temple toward him, 
said : 

“ Kiss your Uncle Argus, Temple ; he has come 
a long way to visit you.” 

The child was beautiful, like George, with black 
eyes, close curls of splendid black hair, a mass of 
ebony rings, and the same attenuated, subtle feat- 
ures, but with a different head and carriage. 

She may run away, also,” Argus commented ; 
‘‘ but she won't run so far, and she will marry with- 
out any typhoid fever trap.” He asked her to sit 
on his knee, and took her hand, which was so 
exactly shaped like his own, that he could not help 
smiling over it. 

“ What is going on, Rox ? ” George asked, with 
a suppressed yawn, and roving eyes. Argus was 


20 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


induced to believe that they had not met before 
that day. 

We are engaged, as usual," she replied. 

I think I’ll dine Argus at the tavern ; I noticed 
Jones had some fine ducks." 

She made no reply. 

Have we had ducks, Rox ? " he ar ked, his 
voice loudening with a shade of irritation. 

“ Not this season, certainly, George ; it is early. 
I am sure you will find the ducks at Jones’s good 
eating." 

I have dined," said Argus, on brandy and 
water, and biscuit — my old sea fare — and a cigar." 

“ I’ll shortly furnish you with hospitality," replied 
George, leaving the room. 

“ Roxalana," said Argus abruptly, has the 
time come for George to leave Eastdale ? " 

I have not a doubt of it ; I have always ex- 
pected that time sooner or later." 

“What do you think of changing your quarters? 
Will the old house answer for the little girl ? " 

“ I shall be pleased to go. Having no ties here, 
I can leave without regret. When I met your 
brother I was almost alone. You are aware, of 
course, that he has not made a worldly-wise 
match ?" 

“I am aware thdXyou have not made a remark- 
ably advantageous one." 

She fixed her dense, cold eyes upon him, and 
continued : 

“ I am a fatalist. Having done badly for him- 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


21 


self, not me^ I choose that he should select his own 
happiness first, so far as he can. My happiness, at 
any rate, is not like the happiness of others. I 
have long been convinced so.” 

Argus was astonished ; he believed that he had 
found the woman whose personalities would not 
prove a nuisance. He began to weigh her merits 
and the exaction she knew George would make, 
and the merits prevailed. When George came 
in again, Argus was scrupulously considerate with 
him, and it was finally settled that, at least, the 
experiment of a three months’ visit should be 
tried. The night that Argus returned to Temple 
House, he went on a enigmatical excursion over 
the house and grounds, knocking on the doors 
with his cane, scaling the walls with his eyes, and 
stepping off the measure of paths and walls, like 
an auctioneer. 

Once here,” he said, she will never go away. 
As for George,” — and he whistled. 


CHAPTER IV. 

T’D sell this moldy cupboard, if it belonged to 
1 me,” said George to his wife, upon his first 
survey of Temple House ; Argus sticks to it. 
What possessed him to believe that he could foist 
the rattle-trap upon us ? Do you like it ? ” 

“ Very much, George ; I think it agreeable here. 
I have room enough.” 

Make it as agreeable as you can for me. 


22 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


Rox, — I have no money to speak of now. The 
sum I married you on is exhausted. Let’s see, how 
old is Tempe ? I recollect that on the day she was 
born I looked into my situation, and I must say 
I thought of the Spanish Main — and of Argus. 
But you have spent nothing.” 

‘‘ I never spent money, George — I cannot be 
wasteful ; to save is my ambition.” 

“ Rox, you are a miser. You dress yourself and 
Tempe upon what? The poor little beggar is 
always a thing of shreds and patches.” 

Roxalana made no effort to combat his opinion. 

“ I tell you I must have money, Rox.” 

There was nothing for her to say on this point. 

I must and will have it. Where shall I ob- 
tain it ? ” 

Intently regarding him, without a particle of 
emotion in her face, she answered: 

‘‘ You must and will have it ; and you will ob- 
tain it from Argus.” 

“ So ! well — for just now, day-day, Rox.” 

He left her in a composure that would have 
driven a lover frantic ; but George was not her 
lover, — he scarcely knew why he had become her 
husband. Nothing in her nature knit herself into 
the temperament which compassed and ruined him. 
He knew, though, that she would throw her soul 
into the flames of hell as coolly as if it were an old 
glove, for his sake ; and that, good woman as she 
was, she would lie for him with calm lips and un- 
blenched eyes, to hide his slightest fault. 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


23 


With her, it was as Argus predicted ; she grew 
to the place as moss grows to the stone. Its space 
and substantiality suited her silence-loving soul. 
Tempe, having discovered the weak spot of the 
domain — the door into the alley — made herself 
happy with constant visits and rompings among 
the children there, and was too much absorbed 
with its hearty, vulgar life to miss any loving care 
at home. 

Gradually and unobtrusively Roxalana assumed 
the control of the houskeeping ; her method was 
as rigid and exact as the laws of a monastery. Its 
basis was an economy which George called parsi- 
mony, and Argus prudence. Though she would 
have gone to the world’s end with George, had he 
desired it, no prayer nor threat could induce her 
to allow him two eggs for his breakfast : and when 
Tempe cried with rage and disgust at her school- 
mates’ discovery that she wore petticoats of duck, 
made from the fragments of worn sails, Roxalana 
even shared her tears, but said the petticoats 
answered the same purpose as finer ones, and that 
she esteemed it a fortunate circumstance to be so 
near the junk store on the quay, for there were a 
number of articles in it at half-price that no one 
but herself would think of turning to account. 
Argus was amused with her management. He 
understood it after a little, when he discovered the 
rapacity of George ; it accorded with his wishes, 
that she would employ no servant, nor any outside 
help. At home he wished to drop everything that 


24 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


entangled his personality. The more limited and 
defined his exterior life, the greater his enjoyment 
of that strange eternal liberty, which men of intel- 
lect who have experienced much possess, and do 
not desire to show. Roxalana herself, always se- 
date, always at ease, keeping good faith with the 
veritable, silent regarding the unsubstantial and 
visionary, came singularly up to his requirements. 
Not so with George, who existed in mental slavery 
to some hope, or desire, which bore no relation 
to his present possessions. To obtain his wishes 
he needed a lawless liberty. Sharp and selfish as 
Argus seemed — cold and cynical — it is certain that 
he allowed George to impoverish him. In regard 
to this fact, Roxalana, w'ho knew it, made 
herself magnanimous for Argus. On his side 
he concealed his losses from her. They never 
knew what George did with the money. Every 
day he declared his intention of leaving Kent, 
and every evening deferred his departure. 
He soon exhausted the town ; its high life 
was merely respectable, and its low life devoid 
of vim. His most worthy performance was in 
clearing the old garden paths, resetting the roses, 
and patching with vines and lattice-work the 
summer-house. Roxalana knew little of flowers, 
but in time of roses she liked to pull one to nibble 
at and stare over. And she had a strange fancy 
for tulips which George took pains to raise for her ; 
and when she first saw them blooming at Temple 
House, her dark face borrowed their tint for a 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


25 


moment, and her grave, stolid eyes smiled as she 
thanked him. 

“ You are a kind of dusky, solemn tulip yourself, 
Rox,” he said. 

Argus, looking at George while he was leisurely 
making these repairs, acquired the habit of smoking 
in the garden, and in this way they dropped into 
each other’s society, exchanged cigars, and scat- 
tered their ashes in company. If they ventured on 
speech it was to note the weather, to argue on 
trivial points, banter each other, and to laugh ; but 
they never touched on any vital topic. Had they 
done so, there might have been a root of bitterness 
revealed. Inside the house they rarely met, except 
at supper in the green room — that ceremony being 
religiously observed still. Roxalana, George, and 
Tempe alike yielded to the influence of Argus 
there. 

“ Where is my father ? Tempe sometimes 
asked, missing him suddenly. 

“ He is in the place he chooses to be,” her mother 
generally, replied. “Where is your patchwork? 
Do I see a rent in your frock ? What is the mat- 
ter with your shoes ?” And Tempe was diverted 
from a subject which Roxalana preferred not to 
dwell on herself. But when George was the most 
irregular, her regularity was the most noticeable ; 
never was the housekeeping so nicely adjusted as 
when he was absent. 

The day came when he left Kent. There was no 
mystery concerning his going — no opposition, and 


26 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


no conclusion. As he crossed the threshold Rox- 
alana went to her chamber window, and watched him 
going down the lawn, with a calm, heavy counte- 
nance. Argus stood under the elms, his hat pitched 
over his eyes, and Tempe was beside her father, 
holding his hand. They reached the gate, where 
neither Argus nor Roxalana’s eyes could follow 
them. George stopped and turned his head towards 
the house. 

“ God ! what ails me ? " he cried. 

Struck by a profound and painful emotion, for a 
moment he stood like the stabbed lago, bleeding, 
but not killed. He took Tempe in his arms, and 
gazed at her wistfully. 

“ Tempe, you are a beauty,” he murmured ; 

don’t forget that you look like your father.” 

His fine eyes filled with tears ; beads of sweat 
burst out on his forehead. 

I am a wretch, Tempe,” he said bitterly ; “ don’t 
forget that, either. Be sure that you can live with- 
out the cursed fillip my nerves require. I cannot 
define and settle my wants as the souls behind us 
do. Well, the world — mine oyster — is no harder to 
open than ever. But what is the use of my trying 
it again.” 

He had kissed her a dozen times while speaking* 
kissed her with sighs and trembling lips. She was 
dumb, but hearing the sound of wheels down the 
street checked him ; it was his coach which had 
come. As it drew up at the gate, his expression 
changed, those empty, foolish hopes with which the 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


27 


unknown deludes charged in upon him, dissipating 
his doubt and misery like smoke in the air. 

“ Kiss papa,” he begged. “ Good girl ; see what 
a beautiful day it is for me. Ask mamma to count 
the tulips this year. Tell her that I remember Rox- 
alana’s goodness ; she has been good to me, Tempe. 
Mind this also : be polite to your uncle Argus.” 

He sprang from the gate, and went down the 
steps without a sound. 

Tempe heard the loud morning song of the birds 
flying round the elms. She watched them. These 
winged creatures afterwards embodied the remem- 
brance of her father — unapproachable, beautiful, 
direct in their instincts — free as the ether that sus- 
tained, and faithless as the winds that steered them 
hither and thither. 

Returning, she missed Argus, and searched the 
house in vain for her mother. Then flying to the 
alley, she played from house to house, dining with 
her favorite. Mat Sutcliff, till nightfall. With a 
new feeling of lawlessness, she boldly burst into the 
green room, expecting to find confusion and dismay ; 
to her surprise, she saw her mother snuffing the 
same candles, and making tea in the old fashion. 
The supper was laid with the usual care, accom- 
panied with no pungent, mournful sauce. Argus 
read the Kent Chronicle., as he did every evening. 
From a diffidence which she could not have ex- 
plained, she avoided looking directly in her mother’s 
face, but kept on the alert for any sudden groan or 
cry. But Roxalana wore the evening through in the 


28 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


usual way, except that she continually brushed her 
lips with her handkerchief, as if they were feverish. 
When they were alone, and Tempe perceived that 
her mother intended to go to bed silently, she 
burst out with her father’s message : 

“ He said I was to tell you that he had spoken 
of your goodness to him ; and that you must count 
the tulips. And, oh — won’t he come back ?” 

I never was half good enough to him, 
Tempe.” 

‘‘What shall I do?” asked Tempe, the tears 
streaming from her eyes. 

“We will count the tulips together. Now get 
into bed, and dream of him, as I shall.” 

No change appeared in Roxalana’s manner, but 
from the day of George’s departure, she never went 
beyond the limits of the house. The fashion of 
her dress remained the same, and she never looked 
into a newspaper. 

For many a January and July the percentage of 
Argus’s diminished capital dropped into his purse 
with the thought that there might come a demand 
for it from George. None came. The happy earth 
moved eastward with its expectant lovers, but it 
never rolled Roxalana’s love in sight again. Tempe 
shot up within the shadow of those dark walls as 
the lovely star-flower comes up from the dark 
ground in spring among the dead boughs and 
needles of the pines. Finally, Argus and Roxalana 
knew that George was dead. They read it, per- 
haps, in each other’s eyes ; perhaps the air was 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


29 


weighted with his passing soul, which burdened 
them. 

They announced his death to Tempe, for once 
in speech working together, offering the courtesy 
to the last mortal Cause which should be the war- 
rant for the same towards themselves on a like oc- 
casion. There were no tears, nor lamentations, 
but Roxalana stared as fixedly at Tempe as if the 
lids of her eyes had lost the power of closing over 
them ; and Argus was pale and downcast ; his 
hands moved about in search of something to 
adjust. Tempe looked from one to the other, and 
with some embarrassment asked if she should wear 
black. Roxalana shook her head, and a faint, sar- 
castic smile played over Argus’s lips, and his hands 
ceased to be nervous. When Tempe looked in the 
glass that night, and let down her hair, she remem- 
bered the injunction of her father, that she must 
not forget the likeness between them, and sat 
motionless, watching her image, her mind dwelling 
on their parting interview at the gate. Picturing, 
as she did, the defacement of the dead, and shrink- 
ing from the dull power of the unknown grave, 
which had quelled her counterpart, she could not 
resist the contrast which the sight of her beau- 
tiful vitality gave her, and so her father’s self faded 
away. From this period the routine of life lost 
its dash of bitter flavor with Argus and Roxalana ; 
a dramatic possibility had disappeared. The elas- 
ticity of Argus’s temperament stretched without 
strain or snap; time stood equably with him. His 


30 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


face looked firm and smooth ; his eyes latent with 
energy, his bearing full of idle strength. Roxa- 
lana, heavy, incurious, with slight self-love, per- 
fectly well balanced in mind and body, excepting 
a dark, crooked desert, which was only revealed, 
as the mirage is revealed, when the desert is traveled 
upon, settled into a placid content which did not 
look beyond itself. Temple lived as a child lives — 
in an unthinking flow of high spirits, which turned 
each day into a series of absorbing events. 

The lapse of years sometimes kindly purls along 
even with the sophisticated ; when God, and the 
Universe, and their own passions do not trouble 
them ; when their enjoyments and afflictions do 
not range higher than those of the savage. It was 
so at T emple House. It was a natural worship which 
Argus offered himself at the shrine of Aurora on 
this September morn. The day’s labor to Roxalana 
was a sufficient and reasonable one, and it was not 
necessary that Tempe, by any thunderbolt, should 
be startled from her happiness and vacuity. 


CHAPTER V. 

T here were but two families holding relations 
with Temple House ; that of Cyrus Brande, 
the owner of Brande’s Forge, on Apsley River, a 
wild secluded spot, two miles, by the pastures, from 
Temple House ; and that of Mat Sutcliffe, wharf- 
inger, stevedore, and retired sailor, whose house in 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


31 


the alley was against the door in the garden wall, 
and near the pasture path leading to the Forge. 
For the most part of his seafaring life, Mat accom- 
panied Argus as his second mate. When Argus 
left the sea, so did Mat ; but their intercourse con- 
tinued : Argus valued Mat, and Mat was devoted 
to Argus. The alley inhabitants called the Sut- 
cliffe family disreputable. Mat slept all day on 
Sunday, or prowled the fields with his boys and 
dogs, and Mary, his wife, instead of going to 
church with her neighbors, stayed at home to do her 
week’s ironing. Mary’s habits were somewhat 
cat-like; it was easy for her to purr and play, and 
as easy to scratch and snarl. She wheedled, coaxed 
and bullied Mat, for she was afraid of him ; and 
Mat was rough with her. He sometimes drank 
hard; swore a good deal at inanimate things ; had 
periods of skulking in the chimney-corner, and 
about the docks and wharves, doing and saying 
nothing. He pretended in his talkative moods that 
all women were vicious, and all men dishonest ; but 
his conduct belied his opinions. He watched over 
Tempe Gates as if he were her guardian angel. If 
a man had breathed a word against Argus, Mat 
would have knocked that man down and beaten 
him. He never, however, made any profession of 
attachment to either Argus or Tempe; sentiment 
would not have looked well coming from him. He 
was a short, thick-set man, with small, sharp 
eyes, and burnt-looking hair. A pipe was in 
his mouth generally, and in his leisure moments 


32 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


he carried a rope’s end about him. His jacket 
was apt to be tarry, and he was fond of wear- 
ing large canvas slippers made by himself. 
Occasionally he played the stern father, thrashed 
his boys for stealing brushwood and old iron ; 
but oftener winked at the depredations, as they 
were articles without owners. He sometimes ex- 
erted his marital authority over Mary, but usually 
ended his attempts by telling her she wasn’t half as 
bad as he was. Tempe abused and patronized him, 
and considered him part of the property of Temple 
House. What was the gate made in the wall for, 
if he wasn’t? And Mat assured her it was true; 
and if ever the house came to be sold, he should be 
sold with it. The bustle and confusion of his hut, 
Mary’s gipsy-like ways in her housework, the care- 
less, gay spirits of the whole family, were highly 
attractive to Tempe. Roxalana sometimes told her 
she frequented Mat’s too often, but was herself too 
much a child of nature to have a thought that the 
society of the Sutcliffes was beneath her. Argus 
was quite satisfied to have her in so safe a place as 
under Mat’s eye. The natural separation would 
come soon enough. 

The acquaintance with the Brandes began with 
the former business relations between Argus and 
Cyrus, and continued between Tempe and the only 
child of the Brandes — Virginia. Excepting the 
two girls, the families seldom met ; their spheres 
were different, as Mrs. Brande, commonly called 
Rhoda Cyrus, frequently observed, when Virginia’s 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


33 


fondness for Temple House was commented on, — 
as different as pound cake was to molasses ginger- 
bread. The charm that drew Virginia to Temple 
House no one comprehended ; year by year it 
deepened, and became a part, or rather the whole, 
of an interior life, aside from her home and par- 
ents. She received a double education, one con- 
trasting widely with the other. The sensible, un- 
worldly sincerity of Roxalana ; the conduct of Ar- 
gus, which absolutely denied the influence of opin- 
ion, and yet was so calm, orderly, and cheerful 
without it ; his indifference to money : his idleness 
through which he was led to note with critical ex- 
actness those matters usually escaping the attention 
of men ; his moods, urbane, candid, jeering, bitter; 
the wildness of Temple ; her freedom from all con- 
trol, her loneliness, — all made up a different world, 
and Rhoda Cyrus was so far correct. The fashion 
of the poverty at Temple House was more impos- 
ing to Virginia than the ever-working effect of her 
father’s wealth ; its worry and fuss and glare per- 
suaded all Kent, outside Temple House, but within, 
its effect was lost. 

Cyrus Brande lived between two masks ; one 
faced the world, and the other faced — himself. 
He appeared austere, pious, and reserved behind 
the former ; before the latter he felt still pious, 
but genial, sensual, and cowardly ; rarely, if 
ever, were these masks removed for him to ap- 
pear a violent, passionate, inconsistent man. He 
was a great financier, a powerful man in his 


34 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


church, and, with reason, bore an irreproachable 
character. 

He despised books, pictures, and sentiment, but 
loved personal ornament, and above all things 
beauty in women, though he never took off his pri- 
vate mask to speculate on it. Rhoda Cyrus, his 
proverbial echo abroad, was his pest at home, and 
the burden of Virginia’s life ; she was indolent, 
whining, uneasy, and endeavored by drugs and 
stimulants to deaden herself against the torments 
of her position. Cyrus was patient with her, but 
excused her from none of the religious and secular 
duties which he had imposed upon himself, as a 
portion of the life he thought necessary to lead. 
To avoid these impositions she practiced much 
cunning, and hence Virginia’s martyrdom. 

Rhoda Cyrus hated prayers, parties, and to ride 
in town with the best span. It was a nuisance, 
the wearing of her gold watch and jewelry. 
It was tedious to follow the observance of the 
attentions and charities expected of her, from 
the position of Cyrus, in regard to the church 
and the body of his workmen. To the public the 
machinery which regulated the affairs of the 
Brandes was perfect. The Forge was quite a set- 
tlement : there were shops, sheds, a row of work- 
men’s houses, and the large house where the family 
lived. Apsley River, bending below the Forge, 
widened before the house and swept round again 
above it. Opposite the house, the land rose gradu- 
ally, and limited the view : nothing was to be seen 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


35 


on this side but a short, dull-colored grass, and an 
occassional boulder. The landscape in other direc- 
tions was no pleasanter. The house was large, 
well built, with every modern improvement, and 
furnished as the houses of rich business men usu- 
ally are. The best of everything was in it, in the 
way of curtains, carpets, and furniture. The land- 
scape and the house were a clue to Virginia's obvi- 
ous history. Strictly speaking, her father had com- 
pelled her to take the advantages of money. She 
was educated at schools of note and had traveled, 
but had not taken kindly to education, and 
was indifferent to foreign scenery. At twenty 
her acquirements were poor, so far as music, 
drawing, and the languages went ; but nature 
had given her a gracious soul, and experience 
was enriching and deepening her character. Her 
faults were not numerous, but sufficiently strong^ 
marring many of her acts, and often destroying 
her resolves ; Tempe, younger by several years, 
selfishly clung to her, and, like the rest of her friends, 
trampled upon her yielding individuality. To 
most people Virginia was as lovely as a star, and as 
distant. Thanks to the will of her father again, 
she claimed a degree of attention from those who 
could go no further, from the style of her dress, which 
varied so that her beauty could never be decided 
upon by them. She was a brunette, because her 
hair was black and red became her complexion ; a 
blonde, because she was pale and had the deepest 
blue eyes, which contrasted well with yellow. Her 


36 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


forehead was low, her nose straight, consequently 
her face was Grecian, and the true way of wearing 
her hair was the Greek fashion, which she sometimes 
adopted. Her cheeks were full, her chin and jaw 
wide and firm ; therefore when her hair was worn 
in smooth bands, a likeness to her grandfather, who 
was accused of being an Irishman, was plainly to 
be seen. As she was uniformly reserved, her pop- 
ularity in the first circles of Kent could only be ac- 
counted for by the original and constant change of 
her wardrobe. 


CHAPTER VI. 

^^TTTHAT sign is the sun entering that makes 
V V you so rampant ? ” asked Argus, as Tempe 
dashed in one day, her cheeks dyed a hot crimson, 
her eyes flashing and humid. 

“ I never will have my hair cut again, mother ! " 
she cried vehemently. “ Never ; don't ask it.” 

“ What shall I have then to wipe my hands on,” 
Argus inquired, if your hair isn’t short ? Come,” 
and he approached her with extended hands, 
threatening her. 

Tempe bound her handkerchief over her head 
quickly, and hid her hair. 

Tell me the difficulty,” Roxalana said. 

I was over to Caroline Drake’s, and she told 
me that John said he never heard of such a thing 
as keeping a young woman’s hair short to make 
her look like a boy.” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


37 


Roxalana looked at Argus, and felt herself de- 
tected. She had kept Tempe’s hair short, because 
thereby she looked so much the more like George. 
No way of wearing it could have made her look 
prettier ; the jetty mass clasping her head, suited 
her face, — as yet soulless, like a cameo Diana ; 
rings of it dropped over her forehead, the tips of 
her ears, round her neck, short and fine, like the 
young tendrils of a blossoming grape-vine. 

“ If you wish to gain the approbation of John 
Drake," replied her mother, “ I will give you per- 
mission to tie up your hair at once. You will 
soon make it ugly and straight enough to stick a 
comb in." 

“ I don't care for John Drake, mother ; but who 
wishes to look like a boy, when one is not 
a boy ? " 

“Tempe," said Argus, ‘‘you are the worst kind 
of boy — tomboy." 

“ Uncle Argus, why is my hair not like yours — 
wiry, shiny, obstinate ? " 

“ Because you are my dear little niece, and not 
like me in any particular." 

“ Gracious ! " she exclaimed reflectively, her 
mind roving in search of a bit of ribbon to do up 
her hair with, according to Caroline Drake’s ad- 
vice. “ I wish, for once, that I could have some 
money." 

“ What would you do with it ? " asked Argus. 

“ As other girls do. Look at Virginia Brande — 
look at Caroline Drake — and now look at me. 


38 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


Those girls carry pocket-books ; they buy any- 
thing they like — even give it away if they choose. 
Who ever gave away any money in this house, I 
should be pleased to know ? Carrie Drake has 
four silk dresses : Virginia has a closet full, and I 
have this ” — she shook out a scanty, nondescript 
skirt with bitter contempt — “ a dress that was 
made for mother in the year one ; a blue, a green, 
a yellow piece of distress ; and I live in the biggest 
house in Kent, bigger than the jail, and as pleas- 
ant ; and my name is older than the hills, — Tem- 
ple Gates ; for the Lord’s sake tell me who gave 
me such a name ? ” 

“There, Tempe,” said Roxalana, quietly ; “that 
will do for this time.” 

“ Let her rail,” ordered Argus, as quietly. 

Tempe tore the handkerchief from her head, and 
threw it on the floor. Roxalana, with ludicrous 
solemnity, settled herself into a serious listening 
attitude. Tempe went on : 

“I should like to know why I can not have 
money, and if ever I am going to have it ! I am 
tired of my shabby, mean life.” 

Three lines darted down Argus’s stony fore- 
head, between his eyebrows, and rested there. 
Roxalana saw them, and made a movement to pick 
up the handkerchief, for a warning to Tempe to 
stop, but was prevented from taking it by the 
setting of Tempo’s foot upon it. 

“ Uncle Argus.” 

He rose suddenly, and felt in his pockets. 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


39 


“ Roxalana,” he said, “ I miss my desk key ; 
have you had it ? ” 

“ I thought I left it in a drawer, after I put some 
flower-seeds there. Do you wish for it now ? ” 

He nodded, and she went out, with an eye on 
Tempe ; but Tempe was beyond heeding its dic- 
tation. 

Uncle Argus,” — she began again, but he inter- 
rupted her. 

“ I will tell you why you can not have money : 
Your father robbed me of so much, that I shall 
never be able to be generous to his daughter.” 

It is a lie ! ” 

“ And I will tell you a way to get money. 
Marry it.” 

“ My father did not rob you.” 

Not with his hand on my throat, or thrust into 
my pocket, but genteelly — he asked for it. Your 
mother knows it, and does not know it from me. 
Now do not speak so before her again. Pick up 
your handkerchief.” 

It was in her hand, and she stood like a statue 
when Roxalana returned with the key. 

Argus had no idea of the chord he was striking 
when he said ‘‘marry money”; but John Drake, 
the young man who objected to her boyish appear- 
ance, was in love with Tempe, and she concluded 
now to marry him. See felt elated and irritable 
at his sudden admiration — curious, excited, and 
proud ; but her heart was not touched, — not an 
atom of it. This stormy scene, in fact, was owing 


40 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


to her uncertainty as to the best way in which the 
affair should be conducted. 

Roxalana resumed her seat, as if the discussion 
was to have an everlasting continuance ; but 
Tempe raised her eyes to Argus, gave him a sig- 
nificant nod, and walked softly away. 

“ She requires no money, Argus,” said Roxalana. 

“ What is the matter with the young one ? Do 
you mean to keep her out of woman’s estate ? or is 
she too empty-headed to inherit it ? ” 

“ She is but a child, surely ?” 

“ Half of you are never anything more ; but 
make her an older child, I advise.” 

“Why should I?” 

“ On account of these growing tantrums ; not 
because it is necessary she should have much 
sense. She is very pretty ; I was not aware till 
just now how fast beauty had come upon her — the 
little rascal.” 

Roxalana gave one of her internal, joyful laughs. 

“ I never pretended that I could manage any- 
body,” she said. “ It is useless — the attempt to 
govern children, just as useless as the attempt is — 
to govern men and women. I never thought that 
the Lord intended us for weathercocks, to be 
veered by the judgment of each other. Nothing 
changes my opinion or wishes, after I once know 
them.” 

“ I believe you : yet whose acts were ever more 
governed than yours ? ” 

“ Yes, by fatality.” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


41 


“ Well, somehow Tempo’s comb will be cut ? ” 

» Probably.” 

In town that day Argus heard a rumor, to the 
effect that the Drake family were trying to per- 
suade John Drake to go to Europe, and break off 
the affair with Temple Gates. 


CHAPTER VII. 

“QHE is not.” 

O “ She is." 

“Well, \i you think much of this ere peat fire, I 
don’t.” And Mat Sutcliffe stamped on the black 
mass smouldering in the fireplace, to show his con- 
tempt for Moll's experiment in the way of fuel, 
and to conceal his surprise. 

“ What makes you think so ? ” he asked, after 
ruminating a space. “ Tempe wears pantalets yet ; 
she is too young to marry.” 

“ I should know that something next to heaven 
and earth coming together was going to happen in 
the family, for Roxalana Gates has given up doing 
the washing.” 

“ Who said so ? ” 

“ Mrs. Bayley, who is going to take it home for 
so much a month.” 

“And you and she have been washing dirty 
linen besides ; that woman is the dry rot of the 
alley, and you love her. What else did she say ? ” 

“ Dry rot wouldn’t say anything to ’tract you, of 
course.” 


42 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


‘‘Tell me what she said, and without fooling, 
too.” 

“ She said the Drake family was as mad as fire 
about it ; that they called John an idiot, Tempe a 
baby, Roxalana cracked, and Argus a pauper.” 

“ That’s reglar dictionary talk,” said Mat con- 
temptuously. Then he swore at the Drakes, root and 
branch. “ Didn’t all Kent know,” he demanded, 
“ that old Jack Drake, the grandfather of John, was 
a pirate? And that William Drake, John’s father, 
had been so long under the old man’s thumb, that 
nobody could tell which from t’other ? Pirating 
was out of date, but the land-shark was in fashion 
— same thing — one was wet, the other dry. But,” 
— and Mat turned upon Mary, — “ he should like to 
know whether anybody had aught to say against 
the young feller, John Drake?” 

“Nobody but yourself,” Mary replied; “you 
are saying that the Drakes are pretty much of a 
muchness. I guess John is his father’s son, and I 
guess, too, that he’ll find what’s trumps when he is 
spliced to Temple Gates,” 

“ You have been telling me a pack of lies. And 
now, marm, if you will allow me. I’ll take a spell 
of the open air.” 

“Take anything you like for all me, Mr. Sut- 
cliffe.” 

He went out, and took a seat on the top of the 
wall nearest the path to the Forge, carefully filled 
his pipe, and put it into his mouth without light- 
ing it. 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


43 


I’ll wait,” he thought. “ Maybe I’ll smell musk 
before long. Virginia Brande has it about her 
lately ; it ought to come up on the wind that blows 
from the Forge ; a reglar sou’-easter’s breeding. 
She will know whether they are going to let that 
child marry. Curse Argus ! — he has played ma- 
roon so long in his wreck of a place, that he has 
forgotten his relation to human beings. I should 
like to split open the twirls of his heart with a 
marlinespike.” 

He watched the turns of the path which glim- 
mered in the dusk and disappeared in the dark- 
ness ; no one appeared ; neither Virginia, whom 
he expected, nor any workman on his way to town. 
He lighted his pipe, and changed his watch from 
the path to the sky. Dun-colored clouds rolled in 
threatening masses toward the bay, whose dull 
roar broke and gathered again along the dreary 
coast below the dreary pastures. His thoughts 
crept out seaward, — rose and fell over the waves 
of an adventurous past, which knew the life that 
rounds the deep. 

Dirty weather. Mat,” some one said close to 
him. He looked round and saw Argus wrapped in 
his old camlet cloak. 

“ Is it the same at home that you are out on the 
wall, with the salt driving up the wind ? Moll mad 
to-night ? ” 

Beats me, to find you in the same spot, without 
a Moll at home to torment you, Captain,” Mat re- 
plied, “ I was just thinking of the time — ” 


44 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


“When — " Argus interrupted — “we were at 
Port — ” 

“ Oh no ; that particular time, I mean, when 
your foot happened to be stung by a scorpion. 
Haven’t you got a scar ? ” 

“ Not a scar, anywhere, outside nor in,” Argus 
answered, furling his cloak, and placing himself 
beside Mat on the wall. 

“ I believe you.” 

“ What of that time ? We were off Antonia, 
were we ? ” 

“ We were on shore.” 

“Just as we are now, in the dark.” 

Mat laughed, knocked the ashes from his pipe, 
and put it in his pocket. That they were wel] 
matched, each knew. Their thoughts traveled 
together in silence ; it was well enough for them 
just at that moment to be next each other without 
speaking. The roar of the wind and sea increased ; 
the air was pungent in the mouth, wild in its flavor, 
and exciting ; the darkness settled round them like 
a substance. The influence of eyesight between 
them being impossible. Mat was suddenly em- 
boldened. 

“ You’ve hated the salt water long. Captain. I 
see you everywhere, but in sight on’t. You can’t 
help feeling, though, that the world is made to 
tremble by the almighty ocean. There’s no more 
shake in your life, hey ? What’s the reason ? 
Why not go out again ?” 

“ Let me find the reason,” said Argus, tugging 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


45 


at one of his boot-tops which had slipped down. 
“ Could it have been the scorpion that first sowed 
dissension between me and the sea ? Or " — he 
stopped, lost in some reflection, and Mat hastily 
resumed : 

There’s no kind of a track of your sea-life upon 
you. Every other sailor shows the strain of the 
plank between him and hell. I do for one, I know. 
I’d like to walk it now and then ; but you, — are 
you afraid ? ” 

“ That plank between me and eternity I kicked 
away some years ago, for my soul to slip in at any 
moment, and lose, or find itself, in the yawning 
chasm it dreams of so stupidly now. As you say, I 
have no love for the sea. Have you observed love 
for anything in me ? Love, they say, is terrible 
and beautiful, like the sea you brag on : I have 
cut away from terror and beauty. Peace and 
laziness are the words to describe my days, — days 
without desire. As for hope, you ass, that lives 
where sky and sea meet. Why should I set my 
eyes there? Because I am afraid V' 

Mat jumped from the wall. 

** How happens it that you are on the way to the 
Forge to-night ! ” 

“ I am on my way to nowhere, but am trying to 
oblige you in the matter of being catechized. So 
go on. I was married once” — 

** Don’t go on, — I’ve had enough. I was look- 
ing out for Virginia Brande.” 


46 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


“Do you call her Virginia?" asked Argus, with 
a slight surprise in his voice. 

Don’t I say Tempe, also ? " 

“ There’s a difference." 

Mat concluded that Argus was ignorant of the 
rumor concerning Tempe : there was no need of 
saying anything to him on the subject. 

“ I reckon I’ll put down the lane,” he said. 

“ Why were you looking for Virginia Brande ? " 

“ I often see her, on her way to your house. I 
rather like to keep an eye out for her, on dark 
nights ; she wears musk, and her silk gowns rustle ; 
it’s easy telling her." 

“ Musk ! all perfume to your tarred sense is 
musk, is it ? " 

No more was said. Mat accompanied Argus 
through the alley, saw him inside his door, and 
then walked to the other side of the town, and 
inspected the house where the Drakes lived. A 
light was visible in an upper window, although it 
was past midnight. He stared at it awhile, and 
then turned away, thinking, “ Well, what of it ? 
suppose it is so, — what is it to me?" Too 
thoroughly roused to go home, however, he prowled 
round the town till daylight, and then returned, 
to find Mary on the hearth in her stockings, busy 
frying fish for his breakfast. Before noon that 
day he passed Argus on the street, and they looked 
at each other without a nod. 

There was a storm in the Drake family when 
John announced his intention of marrying Tempe. 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


47 


His father protested against it, his mother wept, 
and his sisters declared it was a shame. But John 
simply said, “ I want her, and I am of age.” He 
had the power to carry out his plan, for he was 
his father’s partner ; the articles had just been 
signed between them, and there was no danger of 
John’s being cut olf with a shilling ; — his income 
was a sure one. 

‘‘I wouldn’t have that little Temple Gates,” his 
sister Caroline cried, “ for her weight in diamonds.” 

‘‘ I’d have her,” her brother replied, for her 
own weight ; and I have got her. She is mine. 
Ain't she pretty ? ” 

After he had begged Tempe to marry him, and 
obtained her consent, he wrote a polite letter to 
Argus, which contained the customary phrases, 
and the request that Tempe should be made ready 
for the ceremony in two weeks from its date. 
Argus gave the letter to Roxalana, who read it, 
and asked what he was going to do. 

“ Nothing,” he replied ; “ let her marry him. 
Keep her in the house, however, until I have seen 
him.” 

The letter remaining unanswered , and Tempe 
shut within doors, John was compelled to pay 
Argus a visit. There was little said on either side. 
Argus made no comment on the manner in which 
the affair had been conducted ; remarked that 
John’s impatience was quite natural ; invited him 
to come to the house daily : and decided that there 
should be no wedding, but that they should be 


48 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


married some morning without any display. Rox- 
alana shook hands with her future son-in-law 
timidly and respectfully, and then mutely looked 
at him, expecting something, she hardly knew 
what, in the way of explanation. He had seen 
her before, but it was the first time they had been 
brought in contact, and he was amazed at the 
difference between her and Tempe. 

“ I hope,” she said at last, “ that your family are 
pleased with my daughter. I have heard her men- 
tion her acquaintance with your sisters.” 

‘‘She will not marry my family, madam,” John 
answered. “ They have made some trifling objec- 
tion on the score of age ; that was the only one I 
noticed. I am very glad to take her as I can get 
her.” 

“ Are you ? ” said Argus sharply, “ and so your 
family objected to the match ? Where do you 
intend she shall live ? ” 

“ With us, at home, for the present.” 

“ No ; she shall remain with me, till you can pro- 
vide a house for her.” 

“ There’s room enough for both of you here,” 
said Roxalana, mildly. “ It is proper that she 
should stay here ; she is too young to manage 
housekeeping. I shall call her, and tell her so.” 

Tempe was called. She pouted at John, and 
said she never had the least idea of leaving home. 
When they met alone he stormed about it, but 
she was firm. She knew the opposition of the fam- 
ily, and she never would go near them. For an 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


49 


unexplained reason the Drakes veered round in 
Tempo’s favor when they heard of this ; kissed her 
in public ; drove down to the door of Temple 
House often, and had interviews with her on the 
lawn ; bowed with ceremony to Argus, and sent 
polite messages to Roxalana. The little beauty 
John is going to marry,” they said, when talking 
about her. Mr. Drake wished that if the marriage 
was to take place quietly in the morning at Argus’s 
house, that there should be a gay wedding party 
at his house in the evening. He gave Tempe 
some beautiful dresses and a box of ornaments, 
called her his pretty dear, and tried to take her on 
his knee. 

I hate him,” said Tempe ; “he makes me sick; 
but I like his presents, and will take all he chooses 
to give. Just think, mother,^of his giving me a 
crimson silk ! How came he to know enough 
for that ? Caroline must have hinted at it 
for me.” 

“ I think the dress is a terrible one,” Roxalana 
replied, “ and the ornaments are not to be de- 
scribed ; don’t let me see you wear them yet 
awhile. I suppose Mr. Drake must have his way 
about the party for you. I hope I may be excused 
from going.” 

“ Oh yes,” Tempe answered carelessly, “ you 
need not go.” 

“You must go,” said Argus, “and bring Tempe 
home with you. I shall go in my coat with brass 
buttons, — made before Tempe was born, which I 


50 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


wore when I dined with the Commissioner of Bar- 
badoes.” 


CHAPTER IX. 

T EMPE was married on an October day. The 
green room was not comfortably warm that 
morning ; Argus looked icy also, and Roxalana 
was more dense than usual. Tempe’s cheek, 
glowed, and her eyes shone with a luster borrowed 
from the occasion. The Drakes were present, and 
Virginia Brande. Mat Sutcliffe sat in the hall 
during the ceremony, in a new pair of duck trow- 
sers, cut and stitched by himself, and Mary waited 
upon the company in a blue and yellow dress, 
bought for the purpose. A pale Episcopal priest 
made John and Tempe man and wife ; he rounded 
off the periods of the service beautifully, but when 
he said, “ Whom God hath joined, let man not 
put asunder,” Mat laughed, and said to himself, 
“ curious stuff, that, for a couple of children.” 

What do you think of that chap ? ” meaning the 
minister, he asked of Argus a few moments after- 
wards. 

“ He seems to be a mild, cheerful prisoner and 
victim.” 

“ What a beautiful ceremony ! ” said Caroline 
Drake to Roxalana. 

“ It is sad to me,” Roxalana answered ; “ some- 
thing pronounced over dust— just like your funeral 
service.” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


51 


“ My dear children,” said Mrs. Drake, her face 
in her lace-bordered handkerchief, “ it is for better 
and for worse, — remember. Can’t we get away 
soon ? ” she whispered, turning from her embrace 
of Tempe, after dropping a weak kiss on her chin. 

“ The ring pinches my finger, John,” Tempe said 
under her breath. 

“ I know better,” he answered softly. ** Will 
you drink some wine with me ? ” 

She assented, and he brought her a glass. 

“ Look at me,” he demanded. 

Her eyes met his ; the pang he deserved, lawful 
as his seizure of her had been, cut his heart ; noth- 
ing in her face answered the expression of his own. 
The glory and hope of the hour she did not share. 
In that misty pleasure-garden, which one can enter 
but once to search for the enchanted fruit, he was 
alone. Bright, restless, void, Tempe stood beside 
him in her own sphere — unmindful of the paradise 
whose portals opened within her reach. Near, yet 
far from him, rose its terraces of flowers, one above 
the other, in masses of beauty, whose forms and 
colors bewilder the senses. Its crystal fountains 
played against the pure zenith, filling the air with a 
murmur whose mystery famishes and then feeds 
the soul. On the verge of two worlds he saw both, 
for a moment ; then the selfishness of a man came 
to his aid, and shut out all that was not real. 

“ Hem ! ” exclaimed Mr. Drake, by the table. 
“ This is most excellent wine. Captain Gates j I am 
quite astonished at it.” 


52 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


** Are you ?” Argus replied, “ I brought it over 
myself.” 

“ Now, really, did you, indeed ?” 

The flavor of the wine so much increased his re- 
spect for Argus, that he conversed with him till a 
move was made for departure. 

** There is no set dinner anywhere to-day I be- 
lieve,” he remarked, in his pragmatic way ; “ won’t 
you all adjourn to my house, and be on hand for the 
entertainment ? ” 

John looked at his watch. 

Temple and myself,” he said, ‘‘are to dine at 
the Grove House. The horses should be here. I 
ordered them, as I ordered the dinner — two weeks 
ago.” 

Mr. Drake looked admiringly at his son for this 
proof of forethought and method in his madness. 

Presently they were gone. Roxalana was not in 
her usual seat, but sat near the window, staring at 
the murky sky, and holding her handkerchief over 
her mouth. Argus was gratefully smoking, and 
drumming an original air on the back of his chair 
with his fingers. 

“ As this business has nothing to do with our pur- 
pose in living, I am glad it is over,” he remarked. 

“ We might as well have philosophy now as at 
any other time, Argus.” 

“ Roxalana — you see how we hurry over the ac- 
cidents, like birth, marriage, and death, and dwell 
in the slow mornings and long evenings which 
bring us nothing but tranquillity.” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 53 

** I don’t like this dark sky,” she said abruptly. 

The sunrise was no better.” 

“ Did you observe Mat Sutcliffe’s extraordinary 
appearance } ” and Roxalana heaved a strong sigh, 
in token that she was going to throw off her mel- 
ancholy. I am thinking that he went home petri- 
fied.” 

“ I gave him a bottle of wine to put under his 
jacket. The old fellow never has been able to sepa- 
rate himself from an honest interest in my affairs.” 

“ It should be so ; there is something about him 
that I esteem.” 

“ The Drakes would appreciate that sentiment, — 
don’t you think ? ” 

I despise those Drakes.” 

Argus laughed, and in an instant Roxalana joined 
with him. So they chatted, — a most unusual cir- 
cumstance — till the dusk ended the autumn day, 
which had been a long one. 

I invite you to give me an extra candle at sup- 
per, Roxalana, and some of our fine tea.” 

** The last box has not been opened,” said Rox- 
alana, feeling an agreeable solicitude concerning it. 

And the Don’s sweetmeats, also.” 

Which Tempe likes so well ! ” 

Several hours later they were in Mr. Drake’s 
crowded house as guests, as much apart from the 
spirit of the scene as Banquo’s ghost at Macbeth’s 
supper. Roxalana was immediately and adroitly 
shelved by Caroline Drake, in an easy-chair in a 
shaded corner, which partially obscured the effect 


54 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


of a black silk dress with straight, tight sleeves, 
and a large muslin collar, yellow with age. Her 
hair was twisted as usual, in one heavy mass, and 
two scarlet spots burnt in her dark cheeks. She 
watched Tempe with calm, unwinking eyes, and 
kept her hands folded. 

“ I am coming to sit beside you soon,” said Vir- 
ginia Brande to her, turning her head aside from a 
young man who carried her fan and some beauti- 
ful flowers. You and I are to make an agree- 
ment.” 

“ Is that the witch of Endor ? ” the young man 
asked. “ I shall be fond of seeing you sit next her, 
the contrast will be so fine.” 

“ Shall you ? look at me now then.” He was de- 
spoiled of fan and flowers so suddenly that his 
hands remained suspended in the air, while his eyes 
followed her as she sank like a fleecy cloud upon a 
low seat close to Roxalana. 

She is beautiful to-night, — don’t you think so ?” 
asked Roxalana, turning benign regards upon Vir- 
ginia. “ And you, — you must enjoy yourself, you 
are so well fitted to shine in such a place.” 

Oh, Roxalana, how much I like you ; you are 
dear enough to me. I am so happy to have faith 
in you at all times, being seldom satisfied with the 
feelings I have towards people ; duty and obliga- 
tion are so mixed with them. There’s no duty be- 
tween you and me, no obligation, — is there, Roxa- 
lana ? ” 

“ Let me smell your flowers ? ” Roxalana begged, 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


55 


Stretching out her hand. Her clear, slow voice 
had a caressing tone which was new to Virginia. 

‘‘You shall have them. May I fasten a rose on 
your dress, — your hideous dress, Roxalana, is it 
not ? ” 

Roxalana asked her if she was aware of its dura- 
ble quality. It promised to last a lifetime, and 
what more could be expected of a dress ? 

“ Roxalana, are you watching Tempe with the 
hope that somebody will step on that stupid veil ? 
It is out of place over those curls and slender, 
childlike arms.” 

“ The Drakes brought it to her ; I did not ap- 
prove of it.” 

“ I am sure you said nothing to that effect.” 

“ Why should I object ? I think Tempe wished 
to do all that was customary. I observe that John 
is anxious to indulge her. Don’t you think he is 
an agreeable young man ? ” 

Virginia did not think so, but avoided the ques- 
tion and looked about her. 

“ Here comes my mother,” she exclaimed, 
“ whom you scarcely know. I will give her my 
seat and hope you will speak with her.” 

Roxalana put out her hand with an air of respect 
to Mrs. Brande, and said, “ I hope your health is 
good.” 

Mrs. Brande shook her head and her white 
feather fan, and groaned. Then she chided Vir- 
ginia for being so long out of sight ; complained of 
the crowded rooms, the negligence of the waiters. 


56 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


and the absence of Mr. Brande ; and sat down, 
eyeing Roxalana’s dress and hair with a stiff sur- 
prise which brought the color to the pale face of 
Virginia, who turned her back, not wishing to see 
Roxalana’s confusion ; but the latter was not to be 
dismayed by criticism. How could Mrs. Gates 
have allowed Tempe to marry while but a child, was 
Mrs. Brande’s first question, and Virginia, not 
waiting for her reply, moved away and joined 
Tempe, who happened to be standing alone at that 
moment. John’s particular friends, she said, had 
gone into the supper-room, to drink his health. 
Did Virginia know that she was to start on 
a journey the next day ? They were going to the 
best hotels, and she supposed she should see more 
dress than Kent had dreamed of. John had prom- 
ised to take her to the theatre. He was going to 
buy at the first jeweler’s shop a set of garnet and 
gold ; but she must first have her ears bored. 
What age was Virginia when she put in earrings ? 
And how becoming the turquoise she wore to 
night ! — a mass of fine pebbles round her neck, 
arms, and in her comb ! 

Virginia replied quietly, but somehow felt out of 
patience with her all at once ; it seemed as if she 
had fallen apart from Temple House, — dropping 
what she had probably borrowed in its atmosphere 
— something of its vigorous simplicity, to assume 
the character of a parasite upon the Drakes. 
Virginia was not able to judge her fairly then, 
nor afterwards ; for unless women are strongly 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


57 


bound in love and sympathy, their different ex- 
periences only serve to confuse their comprehen- 
sion of each other. Virginia made up her mind at 
that moment that Tempe must be added to that list 
of the weak and erratic to whom must be owed duty 
and endurance. 

“ How do I look ? ” exclaimed Tempe at last, 
having received no comment on her appearance ; 

like a fright, I suppose. I wish the people would 
go ; my feet ache with standing to receive their 
foolish compliments. I have had rivers of them 
to-night." 

“You are very pretty; but I do not like the 
veil." 

“ I do," and Tempe tossed her little head, and 
wreathed her slender arms. “ Don't I look like the 
Bride of Abydos ? What is your mother covering 
up my mother with her dove-colored silk skirt for. 
Tsch ! — here comes the old fuss, my papa Drake, 
to introduce another booby. Do find John for me, 
Virginia." 

Virginia, tall and stately as a lily, swaying like 
one as she yielded to the pressure of the crowd, 
drifted into the center of a noisy, familiar group, 
and found herself brushing against some person 
taller than herself, who was also surrounded by 
talkers. Half turning, her eyes followed the out- 
lines of a dark figure, whose handsome, well-gloved 
hand was thrust behind him, and whose handsome, 
well-booted foot was crushing her flounces. An 
extraordinary push caused by the waiters and their 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


58 

trays made them face each other with an apology. 
It was Argus, and Virginia blushed at her own sur- 
prise to see him a gentleman, in ordinary evening 
costume. His cool smile flashed round his mouth, 
although he, too, felt a vague, pleased surprise at 
her aspect, she looked so perfectly a woman of 
the world. 

Help me away from this beautiful lady I have 
been talking with,” he solicited. Take my arm 
and lead me away, so that I can regain com- 
posure.” 

They passed into a smaller room. 

‘‘You are used to these matters,” he continued ; 
“ I was not remembering till now that it is some 
time since you left school.” His eyes rested on 
the bands of her silky, blue-black hair, and the 
perfect outline of her face. 

“You confound me with Tempe,” she answered, 
her shyness melting away in the atmosphere where 
he professed to be a stranger. 

“ By no means. I saw Brande, your father, a 
day after you were born ; he cashed a note for me. 
Is he here ? ” 

“ Certainly.” 

“ With the elders, who are drinking the heavy 
port, which is the least like wine, and the most like 
medicine, or matching pins with Drake, his brother 
millionaire ? ” 

“ Shall we look for him ? ” 

“ I am quite comfortable with his daughter, who 
will entertain me better.” 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


59 


“Tempe is going on a journey, she says. You 
will miss her.” 

I have just been speaking to that blonde 
puppy, her husband, about it. I shall not suffer in 
her absence. How do you think he will enjoy himself 
in my society ? They are to be with us, you know.” 

I am almost sorry to hear that.” 

“ Why are you sorry ? ” 

“ I like the house as it is ; the intrusion of a 
stranger may be a check to its freedom.” 

Virginia, it is a whim of yours to like Roxa- 
lana. You remind me of the old convent habit of 
gay French women — their lover’s oaths had a 
new charm when they returned from their bread 
and water, their wine a fresh sparkle — ” 

Don’t hurt me.” 

His eyes blazed with a mischievous fire, it was 
impossible, for all her control, not to show she 
felt his glance. 

I like to hurt you,” he said softly — his voice 
had a caressing tone — oh so rare ! 

John Drake interrupted them ; his bright hair 
was disordered, his face deeply flushed, and his 
gait very uncertain. 

“Confound you,” said Argus, “what’s the 
matter ? ” 

Virginia rose and drew John towards her. 

“ Come,” she said “ I want to see your mother’s 
cactus flowers ; show them to me.” 

“ To death’s door. They are out on the piazza, 
will you go there, delicate creature ? ” 


6o 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


“ Yes, yes, I need fresh air.” 

She placed her hand in his arm and steered him 
into the portico. 


CHAPTER X. 

M r. drake was polite enough to send a note 
to Argus, when Tempe had been gone two 
weeks, which stated that John, for business reasons, 
would extend his tour considerably ; the young 
couple in consequence would have an opportunity 
to see the rapid growth of some of the mighty 
cities of the West. A month, most likely, would 
elapse before their return. Shortly after the note 
was received, a letter came from Tempe, — her 
first to her mother. 

Dear Mother : You never saw such work ; 
we lost the small trunk, which was not marked. 
Have you seen Virginia ? Her society will make 
amends for my absence. I wish I was at home, 
but I like traveling. I saw somebody yesterday 
that looked exactly like Mary Sutcliffe. I had half 
a mind to ask her if the cat’s kittens had yellow 
patches, or if they were black and white:. Mary 
said the cat would have kittens by the time I got 
back. You can’t think how fish seems to be prized 
at these hotels, while we care nothing for it. We 
stopped in Boston, and John bought me an Indian 
scarf. In New York he bought me a dark blue 
silk ; he is very attentive, but he has a cold. I had 
it made, and it is trimmed with black lace. Mother, 
the lace was three dollars a yard. We are in 
Chicago now. The air has a flat taste to me ; it is 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


6i 


different from Kent air. Of course Uncle Argus 
has worried about me ; oh yes, I think he is pining 
away. There are no good preserves at any hotel ; 
the noise at these great houses, would drive you 
wild, mother ; you would never again wink your 
eyes at my slamming doors, could you stay in one 
awhile. Have those Drakes been to see you ? I 
do not care for them ; do you, mother ? I shall 
visit them but little. John asked me if I would go 
to housekeeping in warm weather. I said, ‘ Er, 
em, em,’ which meant ‘ yes ’ to him ; to me, ‘ nary 
housekeeping.’ Why should I wash dishes for 
him, and dust furniture, and learn not to suit him 
in cooking — let me see, four times a day. He is 
too particular about his food. Mother, I had 
rather eat your dry bread ; I hate to see people 
imagining they would like to have this, and that, to 
eat. I shall be gone some weeks yet. I’ll help you 
knit when I return. John has snatched this from 
the table, and I am mad, for he laughs loud at it, 
and says — ^ Give me a kiss ? ' but I won’t. It is 
eleven o’clock ; there is no lamp burning in Temple 
House ; you are asleep. 

Your affectionate child. 

Temple Gates.” 

That’s a great letter,” said Argus; ‘^so full of 
observation.” 

I like it vastly,” said Roxalana, with her infre- 
quent smile. “ It is Tempe herself.” 

So it is, Roxalana, you are right ; especially in 
forgetting her name.” 

The next news Mr. Drake presented in person. 
He came hurriedly one evening, while Roxalana 
and Argus were at tea, whith a white, scared face, 


62 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


bringing an open letter, at the top of which was an 
engraving of a hotel. 

“ Well, sir,” said Argus, rising and pushing a 
chair towards him. 

There is an accident, sir,” replied Mr. Drake. 
“ a dreadful one.” 

“ Temple is all right,” he said, addressing Rox- 
alana ; it is my son that is injured.” 

A bright smile burst over her face, and even 
the iron countenance of Argus lightened. 

“ I say,” cried Mr. Drake, in a loud, angry, tear- 
less voice, for he noticed the effect of his words, 
“ to me it is dreadful ! What shall I do ? I can 
not leave my business, and John’s case is hopeless.” 
He looked down at the letter; and his voice failed 
him. Argus took it, to read that a collision had oc- 
curred on some Western railroad ; that John was 
one of the victims ; that he had been taken to a 
way town, and was now in the hotel, which the 
letter pictured ; and that his friends must lose no 
time in reaching him, for his injuries were fatal. 

You must go, Argus,” said Roxalana ; “ no 
preparation is necessary. Will that suit you, Mr. 
Drake ? ” 

Bring him home, sir, bring him home,” said Mr. 
Drake, his tears falling. “ My wife fell down in a 
fit, for she opened the letter. You could not take 
her; my girls would be simply an encumbrance. If 
you go, it must be alone. I thank you for the 
favor, sir. What can I do to forward the 
journey ?” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


63 


Nothing ; I shall leave at once. Mat Sutcliffe 
will drive me to Wing’s Station, and I can catch 
the down train.” 

Roxalana felt it impossible to make any condol- 
ing speech to Mr. Drake; she perceived his trouble 
but could not sympathize with it, her relief at 
Tempe’s escape was so great. Moreover, while 
hearing of John’s disaster, she discovered that she 
felt no real interest in him, and was too sincere to 
express any grief. Neither had she any thought 
of the influence this event might have upon Tempe; 
the dear illusions of sentiment, the hopes or desires 
which continually ascend from the depths of the 
soul when it must live in solitude, found no rest- 
ing-place in Roxalana. Neither did Argus make 
any moral or philosophical remarks upon the dis- 
aster; with a silent, natural respect he opened the 
doors for Mr. Drake to pass out, and accompanied 
him to the gate, holding his hat in his hands. Had 
it been any man besides Argus, Mr. Drake would 
have attempted some utterance concerning the mys- 
terious ways of Providence ; as it was, he con- 
cluded the interview with a request concerning his 
son, and parted from Argus with some appearance 
of firmness and composure. 

Within an hour, Argus and Mat Sutcliffe were 
riding along a road which crossed Apsley River just 
below the Forge. 

“ Talk about the treachery of the sea !” exclaimed 
Mat, in a triumphant tone, “ what is’t compared to 
the continual accidents on shore ? If the sea mauls 


64 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


and maims us, 'tisn’t above board ; we are not 
strewed along the ground to excite the pity 
and horror of folks, but we are dragged under, 
out of sight, where the affair is between our- 
selves.’* 

The drowned do not always stay at the bottom 
of the deep.’* 

“ I know they get into coves, and sometimes drift 
in along shore, but they don’t make spectacles for 
a multitude. So all the fol-de-rol I saw the other 
day has come to nothing in less than two months. 
Well, shall I be waiting for you and Tempe at 
Wing’s ? I’ll go along, and help you shoulder up 
the young feller, if you say so.** 

He is dead, now. Mat.” 

“ The poor little gal ! ’* 

Death must wake us up now and then.” 

“ They are fired up at the Forge, I see.” 

Brande is forging anchors.” 

As they passed from the darkness into the wake 
of light gleaming from a furnace door, Virginia 
came into the mind of Argus, looking as she did 
on the night of Tempe’s wedding, in her cloud-like 
dress, — tall, fair, and self-collected, with soft, 
radiant, umber-colored eyes, tinted like a summer- 
brook, — “ the leopard rill,” when it flows from 
beneath the alders and oaks, which bend over and 
conceal its course. He looked at the house, which 
loomed up beyond the Forge. 

“ I’ll let her know, right off,” said Mat. 

Have you ever been to the house ? ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 65 

“ No ; but they know me on the premises. I’ll 
speak to the foreman.” 

Stop at the house on your way back, and ask 
Mrs. Brande, with my respects, to allow Miss 
Brande to go to Mrs. Gates.” 

Just so.” 

And look in every day, will you ? ” 

Exactly so.” 

Mat flourished his whip, proud to be commis- 
sioned by Argus, and venting his feelings by put- 
ting the horse at top speed. At the station he 
grew melancholy, and followed the locomotive till 
it screamed itself out of sight. On the way home 
he wished for his dogs, his boys, his wife, he was 
so uncommonly downhearted. Knocking at Mrs. 
Brande’s back door, his thoughts diverted by a 
disagreeable expectation that Mr. or Mrs. Brande 
might open the door, he was glad to see Chloe, a 
colored member of the family. 

Lord, save me, what kind of a time o’ night is 
this for bizness ?” she asked. 

I have an errand to Mrs. Brande, your marm.” 

Nothing would make Missis Brande get up at 
this time in the evening, I assure you. Better 
speak to Miss Virginia ; she’s tuing round some- 
where. Come in, and say what you want to say.” 

Can I take a bite of fire meanwhile ? It’s 
coolish, to-night.” 

“ I look for a frost. Address yourself to the heat, 
though the fire is most down.” 

When he had delivered his message, Virginia for 


66 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


a moment was strongly tempted to go with him at 
once ; but it could not be. 

“ I shall have to stay with mother till she falls 
asleep ; and when will she fall asleep ? ” 

“ I could a-tole the man the same," muttered 
Chloe, “ but he wouldn’t a-gone if I had." 

“ Mrs. Gates is alone,’’ said Mat doggedly, “ and 
I expect choke full of trouble." 

He knew better, and could not help raising his 
eyes to Virginia ; they exchanged faint smiles. 

“ Mercy on us ! ’’ Chloe commented ; “ they larf 
together, — and he is back-door folks." 

“ Chloe,” said Virginia, in an under tone, and 
handing her a key, “ bring me some wine." 

“ I can’t a-bear wine," said Mat quickly. 

“ What then ? " 

“ Brandy." 

“ Bring that, Chloe." 

Mat had scarcely set his glass down when Mr. 
Brande came suddenly into the kitchen, with a lamp 
in his hand ; he had heard Mat’s gruff voice in 
the room where he was reading. 

What is the matter, Virginia ? " 

She told him the tidings. Mr. Brande advanced 
so near with his lamp to Mat’s whiskers the latter 
exclaimed : “ You’ll know me next time.” 

I do not know much good of you at any time, 
my man," Mr. Brande replied meekly. 

“ He was sent here, father, with the request that 
I should go down to Mrs. Gates." 

“ Who sent for you ? " 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


67 


“ Captain Argus Gates,” answered Mat. 

“ To-morrow she may be permitted to go, if her 
mother’s health is good.” 

Mat retreated, with a glance at Virginia, which 
signified that whatever he thought of her father, it 
was all right between them. 

“ Virginia,” said Mr Brande, ‘‘ you are at Temple 
House often.” 

Not o’ nights, certain,” interposed Chloe. “ I’m 
a sinner if she ain’t a- waitin’ too much on the missis 
for many visits.” 

Sho, sho ! Chloe, you astonish me,” answered 
Mr. Brande, retreating. 

“Your father has not been astonished these 
twenty years, missey. Can’t ye get to bed, honey ? 
Why won’t missis let my old bones crackle about 
for her instead of wearing the soft peth of yours ? ” 

But Virginia, who was not heeding her, sighed, 
and walked across the room with her head bent. 

“ Perhaps,” she said, “ I should have offered to 
go to Tempe ; who else could ? Had I power be- 
yond these little things I could define noble duties. 
As it is” — She was gone. 

“ I’se most tired of this world, especially when I 
see men and woman as I have this last five minutes. 
It’s no use, though,” continued Chloe ; “ Missey 
Virginia will have to help missis out of the grave 
when Gabriel blows the trump. I’ll bet, while Mr. 
Brande is walking, 'spectable like, in long clothes, 
all by hisself, to judgment.” 


68 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


CHAPTER XI. 


RGUS found Tempe alone. Her pretty locks 



ii looked dull and dry, and her great eyes were 
heavy with watching and weeping. For the first 
time within her recollection Argus kissed her ; 
then she crept into his arms, laid her head against 
his breast and fell into a deep sleep. He sat like a 
statue, noting the faint regularity of her breath, 
wondering how much of a ripple so frail a being 
could raise on the sea of life, when she woke and 
exclaimed : 

“ Will Mr. Drake come afterwards, to take the — 
the — John, I mean, and bury him in the family 
burying-place ? ” 

“ He sent me for that purpose, Tempe ; you must 
finish the journey, as you began it — with a differ- 
ence.” Then she wept afresh, dreading to go, in 
such an awful way, for — 


There’s plaited linen round his head 


While foremost go his feet, 

His feet that can not carry him .” 


He wiped her eyes with his handkerchief, begin- 
ing to feel a little impatience, which she perceived, 
and was restored to herself as if by electricity. 
She told Argus all that had happened in a few 
words, and repeated John’s wishes. He would 
have made a will had it been possible, for he felt 
more anxious about making provision for her, than 
to prepare for his last moments. He was nearer to 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


69 


God, he said, than she was, and would soon be en- 
tirely cared for, while she, — who could give her 
money ? Continual wandering of mind and faint- 
ing turns had prevented him from making even 
the slightest arrangement ; and, concluded Tempe, 
** He was dead, after all my watching, before I 
knew it.” 

“ I am to have you again entirely,” said Argus ; 
“ there is no help for it. You are returned to me 
with the addition of ‘ Drake,' to your name.” 

“ Remarkably short experiment, my wedded life. 
Uncle Argus.” 

“ What induced your little bran-stuffed brains to 
marry ? Do you remember a picture in your 
school-book of a Serene Monster, behind whom 
rose a dreary, flat, lifeless desert, whose horizon 
receded as the eye sought it ? Did you know 
that the desert was matrimony ? And the mon- 
ster pretended the riddle of it could be pro- 
pounded ? ” 

I did not want any other girl to have him, and 
it pleased me to take him from his mother and sis- 
ters. I suppose they think I am punished.” 

The old provocation came across Argus to throw 
his cane at her. 

You stand next to your father in nature, who 
let the jaws of chance crack him as if he had been 
a filbert. Let me tell you once and for all, not to 
be foolhardy again and sacrifice those connected 
with you.” 

** If you have come all the way from Kent to 


70 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


scold at me, let us sit, Uncle Argus, and have it 
out ; other matters may take their course.” 

She sat down composedly, and fixed her eyes on 
him in away that made him laugh. 

I am a poor deputy ; your mother or Virginia 
should have come for you, with salve and balsam. 
Are you prepared to leave at once ? ” 

“ Yes, Uncle Argus, I am ready.” 

A public funeral was in preparation at home ; 
Tempe went to Mr. Drake’s, and soon felt the re- 
strictions of her position. The dramatic grief, 
bustle, and solicitude of the family concerning the 
event swallowed up Tempe’s personal concern in it : 
her curiosity and attention were so absorbed that 
the few hours passed there afterwards seemed days 
to her. 

Argus shut himself up at home with Roxalana, 
and both declined a place in the Drake procession. 
Virginia Brande alone went to see Tempe, and was 
received with the impassiveness belonging to her as 
Miss Brande, by the Drakes. 

“ I haven’t cried a bit since I came,” said Tempe, 
when they were left together for a moment. ** Mrs. 
Drake cries into her cups of tea, which are being 
brought her all the time, and the girls sob and 
groan, and stare into their handkerchiefs, and then 
run upstairs to see how the three dressmakers are 
getting on.” 

Virginia’s eyes were fixed on Tempe ; she ear- 
nestly desired to find some index to guide her into 
a way of speech to prove a solace and help. 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


71 


“ Dear child,” she began, but Tempe inter- 
rupted her. 

Uncle Argus fled from this scene, — do you won- 
der ? I don’t. Did you ever see anything more 
foolish than the Drakes ? It all seems like a show 
to me.” 

‘‘Oh, Tempe, can’t you see anything behind this 
effect ? I am sure there is heart in it.” 

“ Where ? ” 

“ Don’t you believe that the son and the brother 
will survive all this poor pomp and worry ? Here- 
after some pleasant image will come and dwell 
with the mother and sisters, — a shape that will sit 
in sweet and solemn quiet with them, when apart 
from their worldly selves. Be wise and patient, 
Tempe ; consider how different people are. The 
mental picture every outward act presents dif- 
fers in every mind — unless — as it seems to be 
the case with you, we act without interior mo- 
tive. You never have referred these matters to 
the judgment of the one Solitary Spectator, have 
you ? ” 

Tempe slightly shrugged her shoulders, and Vir- 
ginia blushed painfully, as if she had inflicted a 
blow upon herself, but continued : 

“ To one-half the world your mother would be 
very inarticulate ; but you know that all her nature 
is waiting for the moment of your return.” 

Even Virginia, in her way, was driven to preach 
to Tempe, as Argus had been in his, but one ser- 
mon made as much impression as the other; 


72 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


Tempe was musing as she ceased speaking, and 
then absently exclaimed : 

In doing all in his power to please me, he was 
pleased and happy ; there’s a fact. There they 
are on the stairs — those creatures. Do you know, 
Virginia, they speak to me, and of me, as a pro- 
noun ?” 


CHAPTER XII. 

O N the third day after Tempe’s return to Kent, 
Mr. Drake’s coachman drove her home. 

We shall see you soon,” said the Drake family 
at parting. 

“I shall see you often, of course,” Tempe re- 
plied ; but, her face set homeward, the conviction 
that a final separation had taken place between 
them settled in her mind without a regret. As 
she walked up the path she queried whether it was 
her heavy mourning dress or the atmosphere 
which was freighted with a storm, that made her 
feel as if she were taking a wearisome burden 
along. She pushed open the door of the green 
room, and, burden or no burden, saw Argus and 
her mother in the old place and attitude. Like a 
wounded child, her lips quivered, but resolutely 
beating back the rush of tears that burnt her eye- 
lids, she ended the struggle with a smile, and 
cried : 

“ This is an agreeable world, mother. I have 
been journeying in it, and here I am again.” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


73 


Roxalana rose stiffly from her seat ; shook Tempe’s 
hand vehemently ; stared at her with strange, sad 
eyes, and resumed her seat without speaking. 

Argus eyed Tempe's crape with disgust. 

“Take off those badges now,” he said; “the 
disconsolate is not becoming.” 

“ Do,” begged her mother, “ do leave off those 
weeds ; I detest them — they will be as irksome as 
convalescence to you. It is a poor custom to 
brood upon the dead, in changed garments ; when 
one goes back to the old style, the dead are put 
aside. Why should any fashion or departure be 
made for them ? ” 

“ Nonsense,” said Argus, throwing his half- 
smoked cigar into the fire. “ What would become 
of the ancient and respectable institution of monu- 
ments and epitaphs, — those final and selfish com- 
pliments, — if we followed your fancies ? ” 

“ Mother,” said Tempe, “ I shall wear black all 
my days ; I am sure it is the least I can do.” 

She caught the inquiring, sarcastic smile with 
which Argus regarded her, and sat down, pulling 
off her gloves and bonnet. The reception she re- 
ceived, so cool, and undemonstrative, as if nothing 
had happened, set her thoughts upon the wonder- 
ful talent of self-ownership which belonged to 
Argus and Roxalana. She comprehended now 
why they seemed superior to the persons she had 
lately been intimate with ; their outside posses- 
sions weighed nothing in comparison to that in- 
stinct of self-possession so well developed ! 


74 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


** Argus,” said Roxalana, “ attend to the fire ; 
Tempe may be taking cold.” 

“ The fire is a rousing one, and does not need a 
splinter even.” 

While the evening was passing as usual Tempe 
stole off to bed. There were women who would, 
having borne what she had, upon re-entering that 
chamber have felt their sharpest misery ; who would 
have been tormented with baffled desire, — a re- 
morse at not having improved the moments of 
sympathy and endearment which only yesterday 
was possible, to-day impossible. Women alive in 
every fibre, crushed with the belief of an eternal 
separation from love, who would have groveled in 
an ecstasy of despair, washed out the vivid colors 
of the past with floods of tears or battled away the 
memory of their joys behind the shield of resigna- 
tion ; who would have propped the ruined present 
with prayers and vows, beseeching God to hold the 
loosened tendrils of their useless affections. Not 
so with Tempe. She stepped across the threshold 
without dread or agitation, but a sudden howl of the 
wind at the loose old casements made her turn her 
eyes towards the blank, curtainless windows, and 
shiver. Placing the lamp near the glass, she shrank 
from catching a sight of herself, and moved away 
with wandering eyes, which at last fell on the stuffed 
red and green macaw, fastened to a mahogany 
perch against the wall. Her thoughts traveled back 
to the time when she tried to pull out some of its 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


75 


feathers, years ago, and the interval did not seem 
much longer than her marriage day. 

Married!** she whispered, with a feeling of 
consternation, holding her left hand up to see the 
ring. With nervous haste she dropped it in a 
drawer, hoping she had prevented the danger of 
bad dreams. Roxalana found her sound asleep, 
with her head on the edge of the drawer. 

Come, Tempe, creep into bed beside me; I havQ 
missed you, lately. There is your night-gown ; let 
me unfasten your dress.” 

Tempe submitted with a yawn, and then woke up 
enough to ask a hundred questions concerning the 
past six weeks. It was midnight before the two 
widows slept. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

T he severity of the weather rather than the state 
of her mind kept Tempe within doors for sev- 
eral weeks. Outside the snow, consolidated by re- 
peated storms, settled round the foundations of the 
house, and spread a thick, icy sheet over the 
grounds, binding all things under its white silence. 
Inside, the silence was almost as absolute : Tempe 
more than once observed, ^‘You might cut it 
with a knife.” Her occupation was confined to 
keeping herself warm, and the stripping of carpet 
rags for Roxalana’s rugs. Virginia Brande could 
no longer come by the Forge path, but rode through 
town to visit them : Mrs. Brande occasionally dis- 


76 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


pensed with her attentions, and allowed her to 
stay several hours. After these visits, despite the 
monotonous winter landscape locked in frost, it 
seemed to Virginia as if she traveled home on a 
rainbow, which flushing Argus’s door, faded when 
she reached her own. Could the green room, and 
the limited scope of Argus, Roxalana and Tempe 
— contracted beings, whose existence appeared as 
monotonous as the gray, wintry sky — have sug- 
gested it ? 

“ Missey,” asked Chloe, one day upon her return 
from Temple House, “ How does they contrive to 
keep that old barn warm enough to live in ? ” 

“ Chloe, I am surprised at you,” she answered in 
an injured tone. “ It is warmerthan our house, and 
the heat is more pleasant.” 

“ I have surprised missey,” said Chole, laughing 
loud, “ but she knows that no man, woman, or chile 
can keep warm in Argus Gates’s house. Why, he 
is an icicle himself.” 

Virginia observing Chloe as she adjusted the pol- 
ished fire-irons of the polished, handsome grate, 
contrasted it with the fireside of Temple House ; she 
pictured Argus thrusting the embers against the 
brass dogs in the deep jambs of the chimney, and 
Roxalana watching the fitful blaze, while Tempe, 
wrapped in a shawl, pretended to be suffocated 
with the smoke, which the wind, roaring down the 
chimney, sent into the room in little puffs. 

** I like the smell of a wood fire,” she exclaimed. 

“ Ashes is beautiful, to litter up a nice hearth. 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


77 


and smoke is wholesome for — ham," Chloe re- 
plied. 

Of late, when the days were cold, and she vis- 
ited Temple House, Argus had asked for coffee, 
and brought it to her in the egg-shell china cups 
she thought so beautiful ; the last time he handed 
one he spilled the coffee on her dress. 

“ I wish I had my wine-colored cashmere on to- 
day, Chloe ! " 

I wonder at that ; the dress is a month old. 
Missis has moved these yer vases, while nobody was 
here ; I wish she wouldn’t move every piece of fur- 
niture about, when she is left alone." 

“ I wish there were coffee cups instead." 

The closet is ram jam full of coffee cups ; don’t 
follow missis, now, and put a row up here. Massy ! 
if she hasn’t put the books in upside down ! " 

Virginia glanced at a stately book-case, filled 
with religious memoirs and commentaries. 

“ I would rather have a British classic than these 
solid pounds of mind." 

So would I, indeed," Chloe replied, taken with 
the title ; how big be they ? " 

Virginia smiled absently, and said, He often 
has one in his hand." 

“ Missey, you are coming down with a cold, sure. 
Were you up last night much ? Scuttle to your 
room now you have a chance ; I’ll hold up the 
house." 

Thank you, Chloe, but it rests me to stay with 
you. Do you mind my dropping to pieces for a 


78 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


few minutes? Tell me, Chloe, why am I more free 
with you, poor soul, than with anybody else ? 

While she spoke Chloe moved a hearth-brush to 
and fro, as if she heard music. 

I hope the Lord knows,” she replied, “ I don’t ; 
I know nothing at all, — never did, — hope I never 
shall ! ” 

“ Hear me breathe, Chloe.” 

And Virginia sighed from the bottom of her 
heart. Then she walked rapidly across the room, 
with parted lips and hands knit together ; her 
warm, brown eyes were full of sweet feeling, her at- 
titude was beseeching. 

“ I dare the Brandes to come in now,” muttered 
Chloe ; “ they must see she belongs to the world’s 
people, after all.” And her ears were on the alert 
for the slightest sound without. 

“ What ? ” said Virginia sharply, her manner 
changing. “ I must go to mother. I have not for- 
got how long I since left her.” 

Chloe groaned. 

“ My mother was a Gay Head Indian,” she said, 

I am half Indian too ; that’s what makes my hair 
straight. Please excuse my bad blood, and let me 
advise you. Miss Virginny, — don’t take on so about 
your damn worthless mother.” 

Virginia put her hand over Chloe’s mouth and 
passed out. 

No other visit or disturbed Tempe’s monotony 
for a long time, except Mr. Drake, who made one 
nervous call to inquire about her health, and pre- 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


79 


sent her with a dozen oranges. She also received 
several notes from Caroline, which she endeavored 
to answer with the spirit they were written in, but 
falling short of it, sent no replies. When one’s 
atmosphere is monotonous the scythe of time 
seems stationary ; even the hours stand still against 
its edge : cloudless summer days, with their un- 
sparing sunshine, starless shadows, and soundless 
airs, at last grow to be wearisome. So with the 
present ice-bound season, which Tempe fancied 
held her in thrall. Even Argus and Roxalana be- 
gan to mention spring. Virginia alone would have 
prolonged the period, which, according to her be- 
lief, she thought providential in her behalf. 

Mat Sutcliffe announced to Argus one morning 
that spring had come. The ice on the shores and 
inside the bay was giving way. And he asked Ar- 
gus if gales were not to be looked for ? They com- 
pared notes about the weather, and concluded to 
look for southerly storms. 

The weather softened so that very day that 
Tempe threw aside her shawl, and Roxalana made 
the tour of all the rooms, and by way of a walk went 
up to the attic to look over the fields and bay. She 
remarked to Argus, on coming down, that she had 
never seen the White Flat so plainly ; it appeared 
to be stretching across the harbor’s mouth. 

The ice made it look so, probably,” he replied. 

The snow around the house began to melt, and 
in the stillness they heard the water trickling every- 
where. 


8o 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


** Soon,” said Roxalana, “ the buds will begin to 
swell.” 

At sunset the atmosphere was spongy and rotten. 
Masses of vapor rolled up from the south, extin- 
guishing a pale brassy band of light in the west ; 
and a strange wind rose in the upper air, and 
closed with night. 

“ Early in the evening Argus shook the iron bars 
of the shutters on the harbor side, and fastened 
them ; he foresaw the storm, and would have shut 
out its fury for Roxalana’s sake, who appeared per- 
turbed and melancholy as if disasters at sea were 
threatened. 

“ The wind must be rising,” she said, holding 
up her hand ; “ 1 feel streams of air from every- 
where. The candles flare : but I don’t hear the 
surf.” 

“ You will hear it presently,” he replied. 

“ I don’t care if it blows half the town down,” 
said Tempe. 

“ Don’t spare the other half ; let the whole go, 
and be damned, if you wish so,” he answered. 

A tremendous hiss passed through the crevices 
of the outer doors, which was met by a roar in 
the chimney. An irruption of white flaky ashes 
followed and covered the hearth. Next, the roof 
and walls of the house were taken as a coign of 
vantage by the shrieking wind to hang out its view- 
less banners, which shivered, flapped, and tore to 
tatters in raging impotence. 

We must put out this fire, Argus,” said 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


8i 


Roxalana, or we shall be on fire inside the 
house.” 

“ Better put yourselves in bed ; I will take care 
of the fire.” 

Acting upon this suggestion, they left him alone. 
A short time afterwards he went out on the lawn. 
The dull thunder of the surf now broke so furiously 
on the bar that the ground beneath his feet rever- 
berated. 

The bay is champing its jaws on that devilish 
White Flat, and any sail coming this way is lost.” 

Looking overhead he discovered in the milky 
darkness of the obscured moon deep vague rifts in 
the sky, like the chasm in Orion. The frenzied, 
over-driven spirits of the storm took refuge in the 
piling tumbling folds of the clouds, which hovered 
over and fell into the abyss. While he stood there, 
the elms bowed from bole to topmost bough, and 
brushed his face as if they paid him homage. No 
sound came from the town side ; he could not see a 
single light. Opposite the lawn King’s Hill reared 
its black summit ; from thence, if he climbed, he 
could obtain a view of the wailing, howling bay, 
and, — perchance of some vessel seeking harbor. 
He preferred to go back and shut himself up in 
the house. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

T HOUGHt he storm raged the next morning 
as storm had not raged for years, Argus re- 
mained in the green room, and pored over the book 


82 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


of plays, so well remembered by Virginia. About 
noon Mat Sutcliffe burst in, with his tarpaulin 
jammed over his head, and carrying an immense spy- 
glass in a canvas case. His tidings did not astonish 
Argus. A vessel putting into the bay the night 
before had dragged her anchors and struck on the 
White Flat ; her flag was flying from the rigging, 
and there were men there ; it being low water 
when she struck, her quarter-deck might afford 
temporary safety, provided the cold did not increase 
and freeze the crew to death. 

“ What is the town doing. Mat ? ” asked Rox- 
alana. 

“ A great many people are out doing nothing. 
They are on the wharves, on the top of King’s 
Hill, the hair blowing off their heads, and, I believe, 
there’s a gang along shore somewhere,” he replied. 

“ No boat can live if put out,” said Argus. 

How low down the bar did the vessel drive on ?” 

“ As near to Bass Headland as can be. If the 
wind would chop round, somebody might get out 
there.” 

So the sailors must drown,” cried Tempe, not- 
withstanding she had put her fingers in her ears, 
not to hear. I’ll shut myself up in the cellar till 
it is all over.” 

“ I thought,” continued Mat, looking hard at 
Argus, “ it might be best to look at the shingle 
below here ; the ice is about gone there. If we 
could start under the lee of Bass Headland a boat 
might slant — ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


«3 

Argus gave such a shrug and grimace that Mat 
suddenly stopped, and without another word ab- 
ruptly left the room. 

“ Argus,” said Roxalana, with great composure, 
“ I shall not get you a mouthful of dinner to-day.” 

“ I trust you will consent to do your share in 
disposing of the poor corpses,” added Tempe 
sharply. 

For reply, Argus rose, book in hand, opened the 
shutter of the window towards the quay, sat down 
by it, and went on with his comedy. 

Tempe telegraphed to her mother her opinion 
that he was a beast of an uncle, and even Roxalana 
was moved to eye him with a mild, doubting 
severity. 

But he was on the alert. When he heard drops 
of rain splash on the window ledge, he shut his 
fingers in his book, and looked into the fire. A 
shower came down, which was neither hail, nor 
snow, but warm rain. He started up, stretched his 
arms, like one who had long been cramped and 
weary, and sat down again with an indifferent air, 
and opened his book. 

Roxalana came in from the kitchen, and said 
that the vane on the summer-house had veered 
slightly, and there was less noise from the wind. 

“ The gale is moderating, luckily.” 

Something in his tone struck her. She raised 
her eyes to his, and he smiled ironically ; it made 
her feel like asking his pardon. 

“ Can I have any dinner ? ” he asked. 


84 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


I think so ; what shall it be ? " 

“ Brandy and cigars.” 

She disappeared. 

Mat came in late in the afternoon, with as little 
ceremony as before, and said roughly to Argus, 

You are wanted.” 

“ I won’t go.” 

Captain, if we don’t get across within twelve 
hours, every soul on board that vessel now will be 
in hell.” 

“ I supposed so.” 

“ She’s bilged, and the White Flat begins to hug 
her. It’s flood tide, and the waves must be wash- 
ing the main deck ; a few hours of that work will 
settle their hash.” 

“ What’s doing with the life-boat ? ” 

“ The loons have tried to launch her, but there’s 
something wrong, and they are trying to tinker her 
up. The will of folks is good enough, but they 
can’t get out there, — that’s the long and short on’t. 
Bill Bayley swore he’d go out alone ; his cock-boat 
swamped first thing, and they had to throw him a 
rope. He swore at the man who threw it, — at the 
boat, — at the bay, — the wreck, — and the Almighty, 
and then he cried. I never liked Bill so well.” 

Mat spit into the fire furiously, and stumped 
round the room, a shoe on one foot and a boot on 
the other, his trowsers settling over his hips in spite 
of his tight leather belt. He was growing frantic 
with excitement. 

Argus laughed. 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


85 


Mat made an energetic, beseeching motion 
towards the door ; he would have put up his soul 
for sale for the sake of seeing Argus move with 
the intention he wished to inspire him with. Argus 
turned back his sleeves, baring a snow-white wrist, 
and abstractedly felt his pulse and the muscles of 
his arms. 

Push ahead,” he said. 

“ Aye, aye, sir,” Mat shouted, turning very pale, 
and lurching towards the door. 

“ Stop ; where is Roxalana ? ” 

“ Roxalana ! ” Mat shouted. 

What is it. Mat ? ” she answered, coming with 
a bottle. 

“ Yes ; give us a dram, old girl,” continued Mat, 
utterly oblivious of the proprieties. 

Argus laughed again, and asked for his mackin- 
tosh. 

Now then,” said Mat, having swallowed nearly 
a tumbler of brandy. Argus drank a little, and 
poured the rest of the bottle into a flask which he 
buttoned inside his coat. Tempe ran down to the 
door as they passed out, and Argus looking back 
called out : 

Where is your crape veil, Tempe ? ” 

Where the courage of Kent is, — shut up in a 
band-box,” she answered. 

Roxalana, after gazing at her a moment, took 
her by the arm, and dragged her into the green 
room. 

I believe,” she said, in a breathless undertone. 


86 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


that you are possessed sometimes. Do you know 
that your uncle Argus may have gone for his 
shroud ? " 

** Was that why he inquired for the veil ? 

Could you choose no other moment to express 
your insensibility ? Are you never to be anything 
but a child ? ” 

“ Mother, you must be crazy. You don’t mean 
to say that you are going to protest against the 
Gates character, — as / represent it ? ” 

Roxalana said no more, but went her way, feel- 
ing a painful excitement. She replenished the 
fires, hung kettles of water over them, collected 
blankets, cordials, and liquors, and then went to 
the kitchen to bake bread. 

Twilight brought Mary Sutcliffe and her young- 
est boys. Dumping them in a corner of the kitchen 
as if they were sacks, and threatening them with a 
whipping if they moved, she rolled up her sleeves, 
and said that she thought the fathers of families 
had better stay at home, instead of risking them- 
selves to save nobody knew who. Another boat 
had started since Mat had got under way, and she 
guessed the wreck would turn out to be a great 
cry and little wool ; she did not think there would 
be much drowning this time. She wondered if the 
good folks in Kent had stirred themselves, — your 
religious Drakes, and your pious Brandes, and the 
rest of the church. 

‘‘Hold your tongue, Mary Sutcliffe,” ordered 
Tempe. 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


87 


Then Mary whimpered, sobbed, and shrieked, 
declaring she had known all along she should never 
set eyes on Mat Sutcliffe again, who was well 
enough, considering what he was. And who else 
would have done what he was doing ? and she 
gloried in his spunk. Drying her eyes with her 
fat hands, and shaking out her apron, she begged 
Roxalana to let her make the bread, and put the 
house to rights, — in case there were bodies com- 
ing in. 

“ Do, Mrs. Gates,” she pleaded, “ I feel as strong 
as a giant to-night : I can wrestle with any amount 
of work.” 

“ If you will stop whining, Mary, I will accept 
your services ; for, to tell the truth, my head is not 
very clear just now ; I am afraid I may spoil 
something.” 

“ Likely as not,” replied Mary ; “ go right into 
your sitting-room, sit down in your own chair, and 
you’ll come to. It won’t do for you, of all persons, 
to be upset, Mrs. Gates.” 

Roxalana was quite ready to act upon Mary’s 
suggestion. Death was near, and she felt it. 
After dark Mary began to walk about, — to the 
alley, and into the garden, and report what she 
saw and heard. She ran down to the quay once, 
but came back scared and subdued at the sight of 
the angry solitude of the hoarse, black sea, though 
she shook her impotent fist at it with indigna- 
tion. 

Roxalana felt a relief when Virginia Brande 


88 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


came down from the Forge, enveloped in a 
great cloak. She ventured to come by the 
path, the moment she heard that Captain Gates 
was making an attempt to get to the wreck. Her 
mother was so frightened and ill about it that 
Chloe and herself were obliged to make repre- 
sentations of the necessity for help in Kent from 
every hand and heart, before she consented to 
spare her. The Forge was deserted ; her father 
had gone into town with the intention of offering 
a reward to the man who should first reach the 
wreck. Mary Sutcliffe, hearing this, cried : 

“And I suppose old Drake has offered as much 
again, — hasn’t he? Wouldn’t I like to see Mr. 
Mat Sutcliffe Esquire handling that reward ? I 
wish somebody would pay me for doing my duty. 
I’d put the money right into the contribution box 
at Mr. Brande’s church. Oh yes, don’t I see my- 
self doing it.” 

“ Mary,” said Virginia, “ you are talking non- 
sense. Please find some hair-pins ; mine must 
have dropped along the path.” 

She removed the cloakhood, and her hair 
tumbled in a mass down her shoulders ; she could 
have hid herself in it. 

“ Goodness me ! ” cried Mary, “ what splendid 
hair you’ve got ! I never thought of it before. It 
is as black as the sky was just now on the quay.” 

“ Have you been to the quay, Mary ? ” asked 
Roxalana. “ Do content yourself within doors. 
Where is Tempe ? ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


89 


“ I saw her kiting upstairs just now. If she 
does not take care she’ll keel over. It is as true 
as the gospel, that she has got a look in her 
face as new as a drop of cream would be to my 
cat.” 

“ Go and tell her that Virginia Brande is here, 
and she will come back.” 

“ I have always thought,” Mary replied, sticking 
a pin between her teeth, and allowing her eyes to 
take a reflective cast, “ that it was as much as my 
life was worth to interfere with the way of a Gates ; 
but I may change my mind. I’ll go right after 
Tempe. Oh Lord-a-mercy, where do you think 
the two creatures are by this time ? Sho : I know 
they will be along soon ; it is not likely that Cap- 
tain Argus Gates is going to be lost at sea, after he 
has given up going to sea ; and, — it would be fool- 
ish to suppose that Mat Sutcliffe will venture more 
than getting his boots soaked through.” 

“ Hair-pins, please,” said Virginia. 

Roxalana asked again, “Where is Tempe? Vir- 
ginia Brande is here.” 

Tempe fell into a fit of weeping and laughing 
the moment she saw Virginia, which was ended by 
a dead faint. 

At last the boat was launched. Argus and Mat 
were afloat ; so much was gained, and Argus 
thought the danger was preferable to the labor 
they had undergone in getting ready to risk their 
lives. The gloomy twilight, spreading from the 
east, dropped along the shore while they were 


90 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


dragging, pushing, and lifting the boat over the 
shingle, slush, and into the opposing sea. 

Hell bent be it ! ” said Mat, apostrophizing the 
waves, “ if you say so. You are not alone, my 
friends.” 

Mat seemed a part of the storm ; his spirits 
were in a wild commotion, his clothes were torn 
and soggy with brine, and his hands were gashed 
and bloody. Argus had lost his cap, and broken 
his oar; he bound his head with Mat’s woolen 
comforter, jammed his shoulder against the gun- 
wale, and used the shortened oar with much com- 
posure. They did not make much headway ; the 
boat was riding in all directions in the roar and 
foam of the sea ; darkness pressed upon them, 
they were shut between the low-hanging sky 
and the shaking plain of water. In the midst of 
his silent, measured, energetic action the thoughts 
of Argus drifted idly back to the trifling events of 
his life ; a new and surprising charm was added to 
them ; as bright, quiet, and warm as the golden 
dust of a summer sunset which touches every- 
thing as it vanishes. 

Mat swore at the top of his voice, that the wind 
was more nor’rard, and it would be an even 
chance about beating — or not. Argus looked up, 
and saw a circular break in the clouds, but said 
nothing. 

By the crucifix,” cried Mat, throwing himself 
forward, “ I heard a yell. Where away are we ? 
We are shoaling ! ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


91 


Argus plunged his hands into the water from the 
stern-sheets ; it felt like the wrinkled, hideous 
flesh of a monster, trying to creep away. 

“We are under lee or there is a lull, for the 
water don’t break,” he said. “ If the moon was 
out we should see the White Flat. I reckon we 
are on the tongue of the bar, and the vessel has 
struck below. Her hull must be sunk ten feet by 
this time, and her shrouds and spars are washed 
off ; that yell will not be heard again.” 

“ Damn ’em,” said Mat savagely, “ if they have 
drowned afore ever we could reach ’em. I’ll take 
’em dead, carry every mother’s son of ’em to Kent, 
and bury ’em against their wills.” 

The endless, steady-going rockers which slid 
under them from the bay outside tossed the boat 
no longer ; the wind ceased to smite their faces, 
but tore overhead and ripped the clouds apart. 
The moon rolled out, and to the right they saw the 
ghastly, narrow crest of the White Flat. A mass 
of spume on their left which hissed madly proved 
what Argus had said — that they were close to the 
end of the bar. Within the limits of the moon- 
light they saw nothing. In the bewildering, dark- 
ling illumination of the shattering water around 
them they were alone. 

“ If she’s parted,” continued Mat, “ something 
might wash this way ; her gear at least. I’d like 
to catch a cabin door, or an article to that effect, it 
might come handy.” 

Argus did not hear him, for he was overboard. 


92 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


Missing him, Mat gave way for a moment ; he felt 
the keel shove resisting sand, and remained pas- 
sive, merely muttering, “ I’m blasted, but she may 
drive.” 

Argus had seen, or thought he had, to the right 
of the boat, some object dipping in and out of the 
water and making toward them. He met it com- 
ing sideways, where the water was just below his 
breast ; missed a hold of it, struggled for it, the 
shifting bottom impeding his footway, and the 
water battled against his head and arms, till rear- 
ing itself up and stranding on the beach, he stum- 
bled and fell beside it exhausted. 

Raising himself on his hands and knees, he 
brought his face close to two persons, a man and a 
woman, fastened together by the embrace of death. 
The woman’s face was upturned ; its white oval, 
wet and glistening, shed a horrid light ; the re- 
peated blows of the murderous waves had tangled 
and spread her long hair over her. Tears of rage 
rushed into Argus’s eyes when he saw where it had 
been torn from its roots. Her arms were round 
the man’s head ; her hands clutched his temples, 
his face was so tightly pressed into her bosom that 
Argus instinctively believed he was still alive in a 
stifled swoon. She was dead. Take her lover 
away from that breast of stone, Argus, let him not 
see those open lips — no longer the crimson gates to 
the fiery hours of his enjoyment, — nor let him feel 
those poor bruised fingers clenching his brain ; 
those delicate stems of the will are powerless to 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


93 


creep round his heart ! May Satan of the remorse- 
less deep alone know and remember the last hour 
of this woman’s passion, despair and sacrifice ! 

Argus rose to his feet, wondering why he saw so 
clearly, and possessed with an idea which was a mad 
one, perhaps, but which allied him, in greatness of 
soul, to the woman before him. He was still con- 
fused, and had forgotten where Mat and the boat 
were, but Mat had seen his dark figure rising 
against the sky, and was ploughing through the 
sand with the intention of remonstrating with 
Argus on the impossibility of ever getting it off 
again. But when he came up behind him, there 
was something in his attitude — a familiar one — 
which imposed his respectful attention. Mat bent 
over the bodies silently, and touched them with 
his foot. 

“ She is dead ? " interrogated Argus. 

“ Never will be more so.” 

This man is still alive. Lift his head. I am 
out of breath. The wind is going down, and we 
can run back easy.” 

“ It may raly be called pleasant,” muttered Mat, 
on his knees in the sand. “ There now I have got 
youy safe enough from her'' God ! She put on 
shirt and trowsers to jump overboard with him, 
swapping deaths, and getting nothing to boot. 
He is limber ; give me the brandy and let’s warm 
up the boy.” 

“ Here,” said Argus, in a suppressed voice, 
“ pour it down, quick. Have you a lashing ? I 


94 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


should like to put her out of his sight ; one of the 
ballast stones will do. Help me to carry her to 
the other side of the bar ; the deep water will 
cover her.” 

Mat pretended to be too busy to hear. 

‘‘ Crazier than ever,” he muttered. “ I might 
have known his damned crankiness would bile out 
somewhere.” 

Argus wrapped the poor girl in his mackintosh, 
and staggered towards the boat carrying her ; 
there was no help against it, and Mat rose to his 
assistance. In a moment or two she was buried 
in the grave she had so terribly resisted. 

The gale was nearly spent, and Mat ventured to 
hoist the sail. Argus tumbled, the still insensible 
man into the boat by the head and heels, and they 
ran across the harbor, landing at the quay below 
the house. Mary was there before the boat was 
tied to a spile. 

“ How are you off for elbow-grease ? ” cried 
Mat. Put the lantern down, and jump in ; here’s 
a bundle for you to take up to the house. Capen 
and I are clean gone, I tell you. I’ve lost the rims 
of my ears, and expect to leave a few toes in these 
ere boots when I pull ’em off. Come, quick.” 

Without a word she lifted the man from the 
bottom of the boat, and, with Mat’s help, clambered 
up the wharf, and took him into the house. Tempe 
ran shrieking when she saw him stretched on the 
floor before the fire, in the green room. Roxalana 
sat rigid, nailed to her chair, incapable of motion 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


95 


at the sight *, Virginia and Mary were collected. 
Mat adroitly peeled off a portion of his wet clothes, 
and told Mary to rub him like damnation. It was 
a long time before he gave sign of life. At the 
first choking breath Mat poured some brandy over 
his face and neck ; he rose galvanically to a sitting 
posture, and fell back again, to all appearance 
dead. But Mat declared he was all right, and 
presently went out to change his wet clothes for 
dry ones. Virginia looked up at Argus, convinced 
herself that the man was saved. 

“ Take care of me, if you please,*' he said. “ I 
want brandy, and a dry shirt. How are you, 
Roxalana ? ” 

At the sound of his voice she turned in her 
chair. Mat returned with his arms full of clothes 
for Argus, and asked her if she would be good 
enough to step out with Virginia, and go to bed. 
There wasn’t any use in praying now, for they were 
back. Not one of them thought of the unhappy 
crew, all lost, except one who lay before them. 

“ That ’ere Virginia,” said Mat, when she and 
Roxalana had gone, and he was watching the 
man’s eyelids, “ is as mealy a gal as I ever saw in 
my life. She’s cool, and smooth, and soft. She 
beat Moll in rubbing. Hullo ! his eyes are open. 
Look here, Spaniard, you belong to us. Drink 
this, my lad, and let me hold you up. So — all 
right, young un. Shut up. Gates, you are drunk, 
and have reason to be. I reckon you are black 
and blue from the bruises you got. I've had a 


96 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


pint of swipes myself, and feel inwardly correct. 
Hark ye — he’s off in a reglar, natural sleep, aint 


he?” 


CHAPTER XV. 


LITTLE after daybreak Chloe knocked at 



ii the door, and was let in by Mat, who had 
dozed, and drank, and watched with Argus all 
night, waiting for the even chance to be decided 
with the one they had rescued. It was decided in 
his favor, if life could be called a favor. He came 
to himself at last, battered, sore, and amazed — not 
able to speak much, nor quite up to analyzing his 
situation. 

“ How’s the Lord your way, Mrs. Ebony Cuff?” 
asked Mat, as Chloe passed in; “I don’t mean 
him exactly, but his right-hand man, Mr. Brande.” 

“ I forgets the Lord whenever I comes across 
you, pizen thing that you are. I want Missey, 
right off. There’s no need of stirring anybody. I 
know where she is, and I am going up these stairs, 
rotten as they are, like the folks that come here.” 

“ Better take a handful of ashes to scatter along 
your way, if you are going to look for your Missey 
in this ere venerable structure.” 

“ Put the ashes on your own head, ’cause you 
are bad all over; but I guess there’s not much 
ashes in this house. Go, along with you ; don’t 
watch me.’* 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


97 


She crept into the chamber where Virginia was, 
and softly roused her. 

Better come home, Missey,” she whispered, 
“ your father has not asked for you. Your mother 
is dead asleep ; didn’t I let her take the laudleum 
drops after you went last night ! 'Tis almost sun- 
rise ; the day will be as light as if the poor souls 
didn’t all go down. Mr. Brande never came home 
till two o’clock, and he says, says he to me — 
* Chloe, they are in eternity ; such was God’s will. 
Is there any hot water? ’ Did he 'spect I had hot 
water for him ? I had some for you waiting ; I 
thought you would not dare to stay all night. For 
marcy’s sake come on now. It isn’t in the book 
for you to be seen tramping backwards and for- 
wards between here and the Forge of nights. Let 
little Tempe alone ; don’t wake up the kitten. 
Marcy on me, where’s Argus Gates been ? Out of 
the house all the time? Musn’t stay in Argus 
Gates’s house.” 

She assisted Virginia to dress as she whispered, 
with nervous haste. There was no reason for it, 
but a mist, faint and chilly, settled round Virginia’s 
brain ; there could be nothing impending at home, 
— nothing had happened, beyond the catastrophe 
of which she knew nothing ; what then was the 
matter, that obliged her to agree with Chloe in 
in thinking it best to return as soon as possible ? 
She silently made herself ready. 

“ The man is doing well,” said Mat, in reply to 
her salutation, when she came down. “ We had 


98 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


several tussels with him in the course of the night, 
when he seemed to be slipping out of our hands ; 
but he is a sure card now. We don’t know his 
name yet, nor what business he is in ; but I guess 
he is a likely sort of a man.” 

“ What do you mean ? ” asked Chloe eagerly. 

“ Picked a man out of the water,” he answered ; 
“ he was most pickled.” 

“ Is one saved ? Did you find him alone ? ” 

“ All living alone. There wasn’t a cuss in sight 
besides him anywheres. Beats me where they did 
go to. Enough’s good as a feast, though.” 

Chloe was much inclined to hear further particu- 
lars, but Virginia beckoned her along. The yearn- 
ing, dispirited glance which Virginia threw back at 
the house as she left it was not lost upon the 
sharp-sighted Mat. As she and Chloe entered the 
path beyond the alley, the fan-like rays of the rising 
sun struck into the sky, and coldly shone over the 
wild bay ; no lucid blue nor shining green colored 
its surface ; it was a leaden-hued, turbulent, hurry- 
ing mass. Virginia found no solace in the pale 
light as it spread over the pastures and leafless 
shrubs ; the mystery in the atmosphere which some- 
times tracks one’s feelings had vanished. With 
the turn in the path near the Forge the scene 
changed. Here Apsley River was bordered with a 
grove of pine trees whose green pinnacles crowned 
the air, and whose gray shafts columned the ground 
with melancholy state. The sea was no longer 
visible, and the town sank behind a range of grassy, 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


99 


shapeless hills. Some fancy concerning the grove 
arrested her ; its depths she had not visited for 
years. She recalled the time when she played 
upon its red beds, under its feathery canopy, and 
pulled up the spotted moss, or broke the yellow 
plate-like tops of the fungus which pushed through 
the sand and thatched itself with needles ; the 
silence and the sighing of the pines suited her 
present mood. When she came within the pre- 
cincts of the Forge, and saw the high house 
glittering with windows, she left her sighs and 
love for solitude in the shrine of the grove. The 
men about the stable were the only evidence that 
the house was astir. Virginia went up to her room, 
and despised herself for thinking it comfortable 
after her weary, absorbing night, and compared it 
with the apartment she had slept in for an hour or 
two — a vast, barn-like place, containing more 
draughts than furniture ; whose walls represented a 
hunting scene, where the hunters and their game 
were equally torn, where the boscage, arcades, 
and sylvan fountains had faded to a pale brown ; 
whose floor was gray, and shiny, and cold as ice. 
Roxalana’s feather-bed was like a dromedary’s 
back, and her counterpane a calico biography ; 
Tempo’s first dress was in it, and the last Indian 
pillow-case of Argus. It all seemed preferable to 
Virginia, for freedom was there. When the break- 
fast bell rang, she went down, attired in the morn- 
ing dress her father’s taste dictated at present, 
and with the manners he always expected her to 
LofC. 


lOO 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


serve him with. Still there was an air of self-com- 
mand about her which must have convinced him 
there was the capacity for opposition. He was 
standing at the back of his chair, rubbing his sleek, 
shaven chin ; his sharp, impassive eyes, seeming to 
observe nothing, observed everything. He noted 
Virginia’s paleness, — that Mrs. Brande’s hand 
shook more than usual, and a cracked china cup at 
the same moment, — but spoke of neither. The 
large diamond pin in his shirt-front, the large 
white perfumed cambric handkerchief which he 
flourished looked no cleaner, plainer, nor fairer 
than he did, in manner and countenance, as he sat 
at the head of his table, tasting of every dish, even 
drinking both tea and coffee, but eating only 
morsels after all. Chloe continually appeared with 
hot cakes, hot eggs, or hot tea, and in the intervals 
stood at Mrs. Brande’s elbow. It was one of Mr. 
Brande’s requirements, also, that his wife, in what- 
ever condition of nervousness, lethargy, or feeble- 
ness, should appear at breakfast ; and this morn- 
ing she occupied her usual seat before the tray, 
whose silver array she was almost incapable of 
managing. Her puffy eyes and lax mouth, her 
hoarse sighs, the handsome lace cap awry on her 
head, the mixed finery of her dress, presented a 
contrast to his and Virginia’s appearance, which 
irritated his inmost soul. Even with his wife, how- 
ever, he found his limits. He could compel her 
to rise to sit at the table, — but he could not force 
her to eat, nor prevent the occasional fall of a cup 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


lOI 


or the spilling of coffee by her trembling hand. 
He was obliged to wink at Chloe’s officiousness in 
taking the duties of the meal from her, adroitly, to 
be sure ; but for so doing he would have been 
pleased to reward her services by dismissing her. 

‘‘Your kind heart, Virginia, and some curiosity, 
induced you to stay all night with Mrs. Gates,” he 
said, sliding his chair back, after breakfast. “ I 
heard that Argus Gates went out, while I was down 
town ; several bets were made, I am sorry to say» 
against his getting back. Of course he did come 
back.” 

“ Yes, father,’.' she replied ; “ very late, how- 
ever.” 

“ Did you find anybody requiring more care than 
your mother, at his house ? ” 

Mrs. Brande commenced shaking her head with 
intense sympathy at the remarks of her husband, 
and having begun could not stop. 

“ I went to see Roxalana, who was much dis- 
turbed. She was gratified to have me with her. 
I also went from an interest in the occasion. When 
they — Captain Gates and Mat — returned with 
the man they rescued — ” 

“ Did Gates really go to the trouble of saving a 
soul from death?” he interrupted; “well, I am 
glad to hear it.” 

“ Then I busied myself in various ways to restore 
him, and succeeded. Mother knows that your 
question is answered, I hope.” 

“ It is not likely that Gates would row a dead 


102 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


man into his house ; it was not necessary, perhaps, 
for you to bestow your labors upon him. I remark 
that I do not like it. Did you assist in undressing 
him ? Were you about his person much ? Do you 
think the matter was quite delicate ? ” 

Virginia made no answer. Chloe, who remained 
in the room, fixed her eyes on the mild-voiced man, 
the paternal inquisitor, with an expression she de- 
rived from some Indian ancestor, who was in the 
habit of skulking behind trees with his tomahawk. 
She understood Mr. Brande no better than others 
did ; but she disliked him, and thought him as 
hateful as she believed he was sincere. 

“ From whom do you take this erratic disposi- 
tion ? ” he continued. “ What morbid appetite 
have you which leads you to seek a kind of society 
utterly aside from the sphere you are destined for? 
Gates is a man without God in the world. Do you 
not think so ? Answer me, Virginia. Is he not a 
heathen to all intents ? ” 

I think he is." 

“ Is Mrs. Gates any better, — his grotesque sister- 
in-law ? " 

No better." 

“ And the little one, that Drake was unfortunate 
enough to marry, — what of her ? " 

“ She seems as pagan also." 

** And such are your friends ! " 

Chloe, unable to contain herself any longer, burst 
into the conversation. 

“ I 'spect missey will come down with newralagy 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


103 


'fore the night comes, Mr. Brande. She has ex- 
posed herself for her fellow-creatures ; don’t you 
see that, sar ? It is in my Bible that a human 
being is a human being when he suffers, as well as 
a pagan heathen.” 

Mr. Brande smiled benevolently on the ignorant 
Chloe, and asked her why she was not as quick in 
clearing the breakfast things away as she was with 
her tongue ? He hoped no unusual feelings hin- 
dered her in the performance of her duties. Mrs. 
Brande transferred her indignation from Virginia 
to Chloe, and ordered her in a cross tone to shake 
the sofa pillow up, and arrange her footstool, as 
she had had quite confusion enough at breakfast, 
and would be glad of a little rest. But it was 
Virginia who complied with her demands, assisted 
her to the sofa, adjusted her cap, and placed a 
handkerchief in the inert, useless hands. Mr. 
Brande sat quietly before the table still, chewing a 
stick, and, forgetting all that he had said, was 
speculating on the appearance and condition of his 
wife. The day before he had received advice from 
England respecting some railroad iron, and it 
occurred to him then that an opportunity was 
offered him for escape from the thraldom of home : 
he could profitably go to England on business. 
Being absent — what then ! A hundred dreams 
swarmed in his mind, like stinging bees, laden with 
honey. The doubts of a coward, however, stole in 
with them ; away from the restraints of family, 
society, and the church — something in himself 


104 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


would hold him back from the indulgence, the 
desire for which gnawed into his life like a worm ! 
Virginia mistook his silence for a meditation upon 
the subject of Temple House. 

Do you wish me to discontinue my visits to the 
Gates family ? " she asked. “ My friendship never 
can be broken.'* 

“ Indeed ! / have known Gates for years. At 
one time he promised to be a man of energy. His 
brother George was a rascal, but he seemed to enjoy 
life ; he spent Argus’s money — I believe Argus is 
penniless, almost. Perhaps the example of cheer- 
fulness may be an advantage. I don't know that 
it is needful to be cheerful always, though. No ; 
do not end your acquaintance there ; as for friend- 
ship — pshaw, Virginia ! ” 

“ Poverty is beautiful ! ” she exclaimed. 

“ Yes, to only daughters, whose fathers are rich 
enough to allow them to contemplate it at a dis- 
tance as far as Temple House, say. Absurd thing, 
it is, to stick a title on a poor man's house ! Chloe, 
I’ll thank you for my hat. I must, by the way, 
inquire about the man picked up last night ; possi- 
bly he needs help. Good morning." 

“ Ain't he the most sensible man ever made ? " 
asked Chloe. ‘‘ He does know what to do, — fact, 
— when other people are all upside down, as it 
were." 

“ What am I to do under my correct guardian- 
ship ? " thought Virginia. 

“Virginia," called Mrs. Brande, brightening 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


105 


with the departure of her husband, “ as you were 
at Temple House this morning, and I didn’t dream 
you were going to stay, why didn’t you wait for 
me to send a carriage for you ? I wanted to try 
Huber’s Balsam to-day. You know well that Chloe 
can not walk so far, and your father is not willing 
for me to send one of the men on such errands. 
Now, tell me if you can, how I am to get a — Bot-tle 
of Hu-bePs Balsam 7 It is very unpleasant, cold, 
damp and unhealthy to-day, but I am going for it. 
Ask Moses to put one of the horses in the chaise. 
No, I’ll ask myself.” 

Even the daughter of a hundred earls sometimes 
finds that grooms, horses, and carriages are not 
entirely at her disposal. It was so with Mrs. Brande 
now. Moses declared that the “ chay boss ” must 
have a shoe ; and there was nary horse in the sta- 
ble for her, except Mr. Brande’s sulky horse. 
Would she try the crittur ? 

The result was that Virginia walked into town 
and procured a bottle of the desired drug. The 
apothecaries of Kent were familiar with Mrs. 
Brande’s ailments, and the remedies she most pre- 
ferred ; the knowledge of this was a portion of 
Virginia's hateful trouble which had gone on for 
years. With the apothecaries, also, Mr. Brande’s 
habitual self-denial came into play ; he would have 
liked to forbid their selling to, or trusting, his wife, 
under the penalty of the law, — but instead, he paid 
her long bills with an excellent grace. 

That day Virginia walked six miles. In the eve- 


io6 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


ning, while waiting for her father and mother’s 
return from a prayer-meeting, which had been ap- 
pointed on account of the late dreadful event, in 
the hope of averting the further anger of the Al- 
mighty in regard to other shipwrecks in the imme- 
diate neighborhood of Kent, she quilted on the silk 
lining of a pair of slippers which Mrs. Brande was 
fretting for. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

M at SUTCLIFFE went home soon after Vir- 
ginia’s departure and asked Mary to pinch 
him, for he wanted to be sure he wasn’t in a dream. 
If he was awake he would go to bed ; if not, he 
might as well stay up, and take it out a-dreaming, 
though he couldn’t say that he felt the nightmare 
refreshing. Mary pinched him till he roared. 

“ Look here, Moll,” he said, “ I found this hand- 
kerchief squeezed in his waistband ; the name 
marked on it is Sebastian Ford. That’s the man’s 
name. I’ll bet you, he never put the handkerchief 
where I found it.” 

Who did then ? ” 

Never you mind, old woman.” 

Argus was alone at his post. He had stretched 
himself on the floor, and lay as silent and motion- 
less as the figure upon the cot near him. A sigh 
diverted his attention from the ceiling, and he 
raised himself on his elbow to find that he was 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


107 


observed by a pair of eyes with speculation in 
them. 

“ Well,” said Argus, have you made up your 
mind to live ? You couldn’t be drowned now, if 
you tried, you know.” 

“ Was it you, who did this ? ” a faint voice asked. 

Argus nodded. 

What a debt I have incurred ! ” 

I think so,” Argus replied absently, his thoughts 
reverting to the last scene on the White Flat. 

How did you find me ? ” asked the voice, this 
time in a sharper accent, with a vague horror com- 
ing into the dark eyes. 

“Alone,” answered Argus promptly. 

“ No vestige of the ship near me ? ” 

“ None whatever.” 

“ That is a lie, I think.” 

“ You must have more brandy, for you mustn’t 
think.” And Argus compelled him to swallow 
several spoonfuls. 

“ Sir,” asked the voice once more, “ was there 
anything by my person — clinging to me — round my 
neck — I entreat you to tell me.” 

“ Nothing.” 

“ By God, there was something — it strangles me 
now — she, — you — ” 

“ Don’t accuse me of inhospitality,” said Argus, 
feeling strongly drawn towards the agitated young 
man. “ The collar of my shirt which you have on 
would not do so unhandsome a thing as to choke 
you.” 


io8 TEMPLE HOUSE. 

Have the goodness to sit beside me, sir. My 
name is Sebastian Ford. I am as naked as Adam 
was, I suppose.” 

“I am Argus Gates, your friend, if you say so. 
Some one. Mat Sutcliffe, shared with me in restor- 
ing to you the gift of life. I hope you will make 
something out of it. I have taken a fancy to you ; 
it is natural under the circumstances, you know. 
Don’t do the other natural thing, though, — turn 
round and give me a kick, as soon as there is power 
in your foot.” 

“ Warm the viper, and see,” Sebastian answered, 
with a smile which changed his weary face into 
beauty. 

Argus struck his breast in astonishment at the 
thrill which passed through it ; a new light passed 
over his cold, sarcastic face, and Sebastian felt it. 
Destiny was kind to him in a measure he could not 
yet comprehend ; he was on the threshold of an un- 
known world ; to save himself from the past he 
must enter it. He held out his hand to Argus, 
with a mournful, affectionate glance ; Argus 
took it. 

Argus” he said presently, “look out, I am 
going to faint.” 

Roxalana was called; he remained in a dead faint 
so long, one fit succeeding another, that it was 
afternoon before he rallied. Argus sent Roxalana 
away ; he was in no mood to have her beside him, 
and only allowed her to come to the door for his 
orders. Messages from people in the town were 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 109 

left during the day which he would not hear. 
Tempe came to him once with Mr. Drake’s offer of 
help. Sebastian caught a glimpse of her. 

What made me imagine no woman was here ? ” 
he asked, “ though last night a crowd of them 
seemed to be flitting round me.” 

“There are two widows living under my roof,” 
Argus replied curtly ; “ one is my niece, the other 
my sister-in-law.” 

“ Ah.” 

“ Do you think you can sit up ? ” 

“ Yes, if you will be good enough to send for the 
other savior ; I want to see him.” 

Argus propped him up with pillows, and sent for 
Mat, who came from home immediately. Though 
his eyes were bloodshot, his hair ragged and salt- 
looking, still Sebastian recognized a certain like- 
ness to Argus in him, or imitation perhaps. Neither 
were the sort of men he had been familiar with ; 
they were not polished and conventional, nor did 
they appear like easy desperadoes. He could not 
rate them. 

“ Mat,” said Argus sharply, “ you look like a jail 
bird. Hasn’t Mary any comb? A three-legged 
stool I know she uses sometimes.” 

Mat made . no answer, but gazed intently at 
nothing. 

“ Come here, please,” said Sebastian, in a weak 
voice. Mat stepped forward, on his toes, and 
Sebastian offered his hand. 

“ Thanks,” he said. 


no 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


The color streaked over Mat’s cheek and fore- 
head. 

“ 'Twas nothing,” he answered ; “ I am used to 
paddling a boat in rough weather. You are round 
again, hey ? ” 

“ I am aware what a thing it is to be saved by 
such men. Of the mere facts I know but little,” 
said Sebastian, looking at Mat earnestly. 

“ The Captain here fetched you off the bar while 
I was manning the boat. Blarst me, if ’taint a 
question, since you went to so much trouble to get 
on it, and being on it with all your sensibility drove 
out, whether you ought not to have been left there. 
When a man is so far gone out of his misery, what’s 
the use of tormenting him with breath again ? ” 

“ How do you account for finding me alone ? 
Sebastian asked abruptly. He made a wild, invol- 
untary gesture with his head, and the horror came 
into his eyes again. 

Mat hesitated, and there was a dead silence in the 
room. Sebastian fell back on the pillows, and 
closed his eyes. Argus exchanged a glance with 
Mat, and shook his head. In a moment Sebastian 
started up as if listening. 

“ Sebastian ! ” he called, in the imploring, dying 
voice of a woman ; your lips are consecratedy and I 
lose them forever I* 

Mat felt strangely heart-sick, but seeing that Se- 
bastian did not seem aware that he was speaking, 
he began in a loud voice : 

“ When the book is written which will contain the 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


Ill 


freaks of what I call the she part of nature, the sea, 
— you will be able to account for our finding you as 
we did. Moreover, sir, the White Flat is mostly a 
quicksand ; it sucks down all that goes on’t. Also, 
sir, the wind changed after your craft bilged, and 
the crew were washed off the deep-water side. If 
ever they round the bar for harbor, there will be 
skeletons in port.” 

Mat did not add that seven of the crew had 
already been picked up, and buried that afternoon. 

“ Take a cigar. Mat,” said Argus suddenly. 

Aye, sir.” 

As Mat approached for a light, he felt rewarded 
for his deceit when he met Argus’s, — no longer 
cold and hard, but vivid and sympathetic. He dis- 
covered then that Argus was thoroughly drunk. 

‘‘ Capen, I'll take my turn to watch this ere inva- 
lid ; you are about up to your notch. How much 
have you had, a quart ? ” 

Argus smiled, and held up two fingers. 

“ Falling off, somewhere,” continued Mat. I’ve 
known you to hold up three, and a quart was a 
quart in them days.” 

As silently as before, Argus directed his attention 
to Sebastian, who had opened his melancholy eyes. 

Why won’t Argus go ? ” he said. “ Stay by me, 
and perhaps he may be persuaded to rest.” 

“ He calls him Argus,*’ said Mat to himself. “ It 
will be pretty thick with these two.” 

Be off,” said Argus presently, now holding up 
three fingers, and come back hereafter.” 


II2 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


Mat, saying he had a little business outside, one 
that wasn’t necessary to the gentlemen present, re- 
tired as far as the other side of the green-room door, 
and sat down on the floor, keeping his hat on, and 
patiently embracing his knees. 

To be drunk with Argus meant a revivification of 
his faculties, usually in a state of neglect or suspen- 
sion. To say that one occasionally puts the noble 
and generous enemy wine into the mouth, means 
more philosophically than it does morally. At pres- 
ent anything that would go to fill up the cup of sen- 
sation Argus would have drained, and added to the 
fine life of the moment. 

Sebastian, aware of the physical strain he had 
gone through, was amazed at his increasing bright- 
ness and deep refreshment. 

‘‘ How do you do it, Argus ? " he exclaimed. 

“ I don’t do it. Do you suppose there will be 
such a storm again ? ” 

“ You are a strange man.” 

“ Because I observed you through glasses ? It 
is my telescopic way. I am a marine, you know — 
one of the shelved monsters of the deep. Have 
you a fancy to start a museum ? ” 

Yes, — and begin with that curiosity between 
men — our friendship.” 

“ I said, ‘ your friend.’ I am not inclined to 
twist my mouth with repeating a phrase I have not 
used for forty-one years.” 

“ Heavens ! how old are you ? 

“ Forty-one.” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


113 

Sebastian pulled his mustache with the air of 
solving a problem, and Argus walked up and down 
the room as if there was no problem left him to 
solve. Each observed the other furtively, and both 
felt a sentiment new to them. 

“ I have provoked Nature into a conspiracy,” 
said Argus at length, “ and experience something 
akin to the Ideal. I have refused to learn it from 
ordinary circumstances, — she has thrown you 
towards me.” 

And I,” replied Sebastian, “ find something in 
the Real, which I have struggled against. I’ll try 
a few steps on the floor, too.” 

He slipped from the cot, and stood dizzy and 
reeling. 

Steady,” said Argus, approaching him ; you 
still have on your sea-legs.” 

Sebastian flung his arms round the neck of Argus, 
and kissed his cheek. Argus strained Sebastian to 
his breast, and while they were in this attitude, 
Mat softly entered in a pair of canvas slippers. 

Blarsted,” he said, almost aloud, ” if I haven’t 
eaten something that’s hurt me. I see double — 
specks in my eyes — appears to me as if a play was 
going on — twenty-five years are supposed to elapse 
in the Isle of France, and home comes that ere 
long-lost vagabond. Raly, they might be brothers 
now — in the dark.” 

He sat down on the edge of a chair, moved in 
spite of the contempt he tried to show, and said in 
a gruff voice ; 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


114 

“ Past midnight, gentlemen ; time for old folks 
to be in bed.” 

“ Get a light then,” said Argus, “ and show me 
the way to bed.” 

“ Mrs. Gates would be glad to know,” continued 
Mat, cautiously pulling a blanket over Sebastian as 
he dropped on the cot again, “ just how comfortable 
the person is.” 

Sebastian laughed. 

“ How do I look ? ” he asked, 

“ Like a fine young fellow,” replied Mat, warm- 
ing into sudden enthusiasm. 

“ Get a light then,” repeated Argus, “ and show 
me the way to that bed you spoke of. I don’t 
know where it is.” 

Mat hurried after a candle, and they started for 
the stairs. 

I hope,” said Argus politely, “ that you will 
allow me to retire in my clothes. I prefer to do so.” 

“ All right,” answered Mat, “ only be sure to un- 
dress in the morning.” 

Argus stretched himself on the bed, and closed 
his eyes. 

“ Stop ! ” he called, as Mat was about to go out. 

What do you think of him ? ” 

There’s a pair of you.” 

A pair ! His face paired ? ” 

I aint a judge of beauty, Capen. What makes 
his eyebrows meet ? He has got a long, green 
face. His eyes are too near together.” 

“ Is he handsome ? ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


I15 

Argus sat up to make the pillow up to throw at 
Mat, in case his reply did not suit him. 

I say, yes : dead and alive, I never looked upon 
a handsomer boy.” 

Now go watch him.” 


CHAPTER XVII. 

S ebastian ford was the son of an English 
trader who lived in Carthagena many years, 
and died there in the time of the political troubles 
which convulsed that portion of South America ; 
his mother was a rich Spanish woman, whose 
beauty he had inherited. After his father’s death 
Sebastian came into possession of the business, 
which he soon closed, and found himself thereby 
the owner of twenty thousand pounds. In the 
latitude of his birth the two chief ways of spending 
money were in glory and gaming. He cared for 
neither. With youth, health, and fortune, he went 
to England, and, carefully avoiding all introduc- 
tion to persons with the name of Ford, lived both 
in London and Paris, as creoles proverbially live ; 
spent a large share of his money ; grew fatigued ; 
and returned home to tropical luxury, which was 
cheap, and at one’s door. He met in his mother’s 
house a Catholic priest of his own age, domiciled 
there, and in her affections. He made no effort to 
oust the priest, nor, like Hamlet, did he discourse 
with his mother on the merits of his father, but 


it6 temple house. 

silently destroyed all memorial of him — even 
ravaged her jewel box, from which he took an 
ivory painted miniature, and a locket containing a 
lock of auburn hair, which he well remembered. 
In like manner he made farewell preparations for 
a second departure, which he intended should be 
final, and one day stood before his handsome, 
violent, brainless mother, in an attitude which made 
the blood flow to her dusky face. 

“ My Sebastian ! ” she said, casting her rolling 
eyes over him. 

He pointed, without a word, to the sea ; beyond 
the window, within her sight, the spars of a vessel 
swayed back and forth. She understood his inten- 
tion, and, after the manner of Spaniards, poured 
out a volume of words without a single gesticula- 
tion, then stopped and stretched out her beautiful 
bare arms to him. 

“ That for the padre ! ” he said, giving them a 
blow with his hat, turned on his heel, and left her. 
He set sail for a country where vice and religion 
are not to be seen hand in hand. Whether some 
spark of his mother’s fire burned in his blood still ; 
whether the sentiment which attaches the soul to 
the earth where and from which the body is 
molded ; whether the formal selfishness, the con- 
ventional barbarities of his adopted life, or the 
sombre melancholy of an empty heart, sent him to 
his native land again, no one knew. But for 
several years some secluded spot there held him 
fast. Then he fell into the hands and life of 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


117 


Argus Gates. So much of his history, connected 
with business merely, he related to Argus. He 
was a passenger in the wrecked vessel, and on his 
way from a West Indian port, to one in the 
Southern United States. He had credit at a 
foreign banking house, not unknown to Argus, and 
must, of course now wait for funds, since he had 
lost all he brought with him. He confessed he 
had no especial aim for the future ; there was still 
enough of his early fortune to enable him to live 
in idleness anywhere. So long as a man’s age 
keeps him in abeyance, one place, he affirmed, is 
as good as another for existence. Argus shook 
his head at the idea ; he, who created motive power 
from the circumstances the present offered, and 
subordinated them to the completion of an enjoy- 
ment limited to their limits, could not be expected 
to sympathize in such a theory. Argus waited for 
no inheritance, reversing the fable ; he kept his 
eyes on the shadows of sensation, and avoided their 
substance, — except in the case of Sebastian him- 
self. In all the relations which affect men, how- 
ever, Argus and Sebastian were worthy of each 
other. They were both morally deficient ; alike 
sincere, incapable of trifling ; devoid of puerility ; 
gifted with the faculty of making forcible and 
dignified all their acts, which in others might 
appear grotesque or weak ; and capable of endur- 
ing solitude. They differed also. Where Sebas- 
tian was old, Argus was young ; his sharp, 
positive nature permitted no dallying with the 


1 1 8 TEMPLE HO USE, 

close accumulating reserved forces of his char- 
acter. With Sebastian they were created to be 
destroyed. 

For a long time Sebastian was in eclipse. An 
illness followed his shipwreck, which lasted for 
weeks ; when he recovered it was certain that his 
mind was under a cloud. Whether he was haunted 
by some recollection, or occupied with anxiety con- 
cerning the future, Argus could not judge. At 
times he was possessed by an abstraction which 
affected him, as if his sight and hearing were de- 
stroyed, and for days sat like a statue, in marble 
sadness, or walked about the house like a somnam- 
bulist or an automaton. Tempe considered him 
ingeniously arranged as a machine, but thought it 
a pity he had been gifted with the power of loco- 
.motion, since it caused the danger of his run- 
ning against one. But Roxalana, with Argus, felt 
strangely attached to him ; some secret associa- 
tion bestowed upon her slow understanding the 
ability to comprehend his condition. She thought 
him in the despair of exhaustion, and wished that 
the present years of his life were past, so that the 
struggle of change might be over, and the settle- 
ment of his affairs be resolved to the conclusion of 
his being one of the family forever. The room in- 
tended for Tempe after her marriage was plainly 
furnished, and given to him. He expressed him- 
self satisfied that the prospect from its four win- 
dows revealed no more of the world than the elms 
on the lawn, the garden, and the warehouse above 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


119 

the quay. When the vine spread its leaves over 
the summer-house, and the rose-trees budded ; 
when the elms softly brushed their green, grace- 
ful boughs against the window-panes, his mood 
changed. He said one day to Argus that he must 
go downstairs and ask a favor of Roxalana. 

Try it,” urged Argus, fearful she-dragon as 
she is, she may grant it. She will be so astonished 
to learn that you want one.” 

“ Dear,” said Sebastian, kissing Roxalana’s hand, 
I am awake. I ask something of you.” 

It is granted, Sebastian.” 

Not yet, possibly ; will you have me here with- 
out obtaining any knowledge of me ? I would 
have you accept me as if I were born on that night 
in March, instead of having been threatened with 
death. I am as much in earnest as if it were not 
possible that my wish comes from a whim.” 

Stay,” she said. 

“ It must be fondness that prompts me. Is it 
the strange old house standing in primal twilight, — 
the cold, melancholy, intangible landscape in which 
it is set? Is it you, the passionless soul, the cen- 
tral brooding heart, or Argus, the type of man, 
neither existing in Utopia nor the world of ordi- 
nary men, that gives me these feelings ? ” 

“ Whatever reason you may put forward in your 
own mind for staying, stay.” 

“ What I can do for you, Roxalana, I feel will 
only prove in the end that my selfishness overpow- 
ered you." 


120 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


“ I will supply myself then from that selfishness. 
Our world is a lonely one, Sebastian ; I do not 
want society, but at times material for fresh em- 
ployment. You would not think it so, — would 
you ! I shall come to you, and take what it pleases 
me to take, as one dips a draught of water from a 
full vessel.” 

“ Oh,” he muttered, “ I have been badly drained 
before this, too. I am not so cunning as to keep 
this calm woman-friend from a taint of the old in- 
spiration.” 

Roxalana changed the direction of her eyes, but 
not their expression, as Argus entered the room. 

“ He has thought it necessary,” she said, “ to 
make some appeal to me about staying here. My 
faith is shaken now ; I supposed, of course, that 
he would remain. Can he not be happy, Argus, as 
you are? ” 

“You are sublime in your conceit,” he answered. 

“ Finding, I mean, that when the ways of happi- 
ness are impossible, life is better without. I am 
sure you would not dare a change now,” she 
said. 

“ You are a solitary, ignorant soul. I have 
dared to expect a friend in Sebastian — and have I 
not dared changes before ? What day was it that 
I left this house in pursuit of a man no better than 
a Dead Sea apple ? Sebastian, what do you hope 
for in me ? ” 

“ More than I have had, even.” 

“ And the garden will be beautiful soon,” said 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


I2I 


Roxalana. “ Tempe and Virginia are walking 
there now." 

Virginia ? " said Sebastian inquiringly. 

Our friend, whom you have seen." 

‘‘ Where ? " 

** Have you not seen Virginia Brande ? " asked 
Argus. 

No." 

You had better have your eyes couched." 

I recollect," said Sebastian, “ you, Roxalana, 
Mat Sutcliffe, and the child — Tempe. Has any 
other figure appeared to me ? " 

** This one, — just outside the door." 

Virginia came in, with a white jonquil in her 
hand, followed by Tempe. Sebastian rose, bowed 
deeply, and thought of the queen of heaven. 

“ See, this is finer than your tulips, Roxalana," 
said Virginia, advancing, and offering her the flower. 

“ I do not think so," she answered. “ Give it to 
Sebastian; I was just speaking of the beauty of 
our garden." 

Quietly handing him the flower, which he as 
quietly took, Virginia turned to Argus, but her 
voice was drowned in Tempo’s exclamation: 

“ Don’t believe that the garden is fine ; it is an 
old concern which carries on the production of 
toadstools. It was laid out in the year one, by my 
crazy relatives, whose name I have the honor to 
bear, — giving me a Samson-like association. She 
thought gooseberry bushes and fat rose-trees meant 
shrubbery." 


122 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


And this ? ” said Sebastian with a smile, holding 
out the flower. 

Tempe twisted her mouth, and made no answer. 

He fixed his eyes on the flower, and suddenly, 
passionately inhaled its peculiar, rich sweetness, as 
strong as wine, and threw it away. 

Virginia picked it up with an odd smile, and ca- 
ressed its crushed leaves with a pitiful motion. 

“ Needn’t have given it to him,” said Tempe 
crossly. 

“ Little Miss,” said Sebastian, “ have I provoked 
you ? The odor stung me.” 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

N O episodes marked the long days of the follow- 
ing summer at Temple House. The inner 
self of its inmates was wrapped in the necessary 
and wholesome security which comes from the re- 
ciprocal surrender and interchange of the habits of 
our outward life. Carelessly speaking, no change 
was apparent, but it was certain that Tempe was 
less a teasing, restless presence than formerly ; 
there was little of the old, hasty flitting in and out 
of doors, and the sharp encounters between herself 
and Argus had ceased. Roxalana, also, seemed 
differently disposed ; her treasured odds and ends 
had lost their interests to her economical mind. 
About the time of Sebastian’s recovery, Argus 
began to disappear regularly between eight and 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


123 


twelve A. M. For some reason he did not mention, 
he sought and obtained employment in a Marine 
Insurance Company. His income was added to, 
and in due time the household comforts were 
added to besides. It was several weeks before 
Roxalana’s mind was brought to bear on the fact 
of his daily absence. An unexpected irregularity 
occurred in regard to breakfast one morning, at 
which Argus expressed some impatience; in short 
he swore. 

“ Why, Argus,” said Roxalana, one would think 
it necessary for you to have your breakfast at a set 
time.” 

“ Yes, unless the person, like yourself, should 
happen to be blind and deaf.” 

She dropped into her chair and laughed ; but 
when he had gone, she said, with the air of impart- 
ing a secret, “ Tempe, do you know that your uncle 
Argus goes out every morning, and has done so 
for two months ? ” 

“ What if he does ? I am willing for the furni- 
ture to go out too, if it chooses, and the house, or 
anything else here ; and I don’t object to their 
staying out, either.” 

The gentle ministration of the season coincided 
with Sebastian’s mood ; its temperate sunshine and 
breezes ; the uniform grass on hill and field, decked 
everywhere with straight-stemmed flowers, yellow, 
blue, and white ; and even the beds of harmless 
shrubs which here and there covered the flat coast; 
and the blue creeks lapping into brown marshes, or 


124 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


smooth pale sand, were new to him. The ordinary 
inequalities of time seemed to have no lodging 
place ; there was no point for a purpose ; night 
met day in a bow of indefinite shades. At present 
his vitality flowed in the current of the friendship 
between himself and Argus, — a friendship of 
feeling, not of ideas, — not yet to be analyzed. 
Sebastian, under its moral influence, approached a 
repose which was better than an occupation ; and 
Argus, strongly moved by it, felt an activity by 
which his mask of coldness and his selfish habits 
was lost. Still, Sebastian was sometimes restless. 
Some old wound bled afresh; his face grew pas- 
sionate again, his handsome eyes, singular and in- 
tense because they were too near together, wore a 
tormenting expression. One could not meet his 
glance then, without being possessed with the 
desire to rend from him the secret of his power. 
He muttered Spanish between his teeth, and 
hummed wild, monotonous airs. Tempe listened, 
while he was, or appeared to be, unmindful of 
her presence. She told him one day, that she had 
named two cats that were in training at Mat Sut- 
cliffe’s “ Colado ” and “ Tizona.” He stared at her 
and asked her if she knew Spanish literature. 

“ I only know your unhappy Spanish fits,” she 
replied. “ As for literature, — this looks like a 
place for that, does it not ? ” 

“ They are old songs.” 

“ Your fits ? ” 

“ Were you ever called a child ? ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


125 


Yes, — when I was born.” 

I have not seen such a fire-fly for many days. 
I shall remember you henceforth, or forget you. 
Here’s another old ballad — ” 

“ Oh, I know it ! ” and she began humming be- 
tween her teeth, “ En el nombre del Criador — ” 
Hush ; I don’t like to hear you.” 

“Why?” 

“ It reminds me of the time before I was found 
dead, — when women’s lips opened with your ac- 
cent ; they sang different things, though. Promise 
me, little Tempe, not to imitate me again.” 

He looked at her attentively, and saw that in 
her face which made him shudder and regret. 
“The innocents,” he said to himself. 

“ I promise you,” she said quickly, her blood 
dyeing her face like a flash of flame. But from 
that time he was as silent, when moody, as before 
Argus and Roxalana. 

Argus, too, occasionally returned to his dreamy 
ways, passing hours under the elms, with a cigar 
in his mouth, which nothing could induce him to 
remove. But whatever his mood, Kent was barred 
from his doors ; its diurnal babble, sad or gay, 
rolled into eternity, — which was no more blind or 
deaf to it than the family at Temple House. Many 
people, however, knew and were interested in Se- 
bastian ; whenever he appeared in public, he was 
pointed at as “ The Passenger 


126 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


CHAPTER XIV, 

V IRGINIA had better have carried a sprig of 
rosemary to Temple House, than the jonquil, 
when she made her last visit, which was not re- 
peated for weeks. The rosemary is vigorous ; its 
stiff branching stalks, covered with minute, pale 
blossoms, would have survived Sebastian’s crush- 
ing hand. Mrs. Brande fell into a strange condi- 
tion, which increased her cunning selfishness, and 
deprived her of reason. Mr. Brande ordained 
that she should appear at home and abroad, and 
be treated as usual. It was terrible, however, to 
see the espial of Virginia and her father over the 
forlorn woman. The misery in Virginia’s eyes ; 
the sense they expressed of the double sacrifice to 
her parents ; the fixed alertness in Mr. Brande’s 
countenance, his confidence in being able to steer 
his wife in their sphere, according to the laws of 
God and man, as he understood them, — must have 
shaken the tactics of those beings who are said to 
watch over us, and are named our guardian angels. 
Summer was in her bower. The happy, idle, full- 
fed days gathered round her knees, and lay upon 
her breast ; if stirred, it was by the scent of flow- 
ers, the taste of fruit, the silver sound of the 
creeping seas, the trickling cadence of the brooks, 
the tree-tops wafting through the air, the clouds, 
purple and white, rolling up the shining zenith, the 
orange ‘‘ sunset waning slow,” beneath the islands 
of the sky. Virginia, too, should have felt the 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


127 


summer-heart ; but her days were tedious, her 
nights hateful. There was nothing sweet, sensu- 
ous, lovely, about her ; nothing pure, peaceful, 
holy, in her atmosphere. Duty with her was a 
constitutional idea, to be performed because placed 
in her hands ; and once there, she was incited to 
its most honest and able performance. The sub- 
jugating contest which most women undergo when 
they perceive the necessity of martyrdom, — that 
crucifixion of personality, that mysterious hypoc- 
risy which dictates the habit of self-denial, — was 
not possible to her ; the powers of happiness and 
pleasure were in readiness for their natural spring 
when the compression forced upon them should be 
removed. Yet she believed that every event was 
ordered as a preparation for the eternity she was 
approaching, but in which she did not yet exist ; 
her senses must first become valueless. In her 
opinion, all the mystery of life lay outside of it. 
How could it be otherwise? It is a common no- 
tion that substance is no medium for anything 
but sin. 

“ The summer is nearly over, mother,” she said 
one day ; “ you will feel better when autumn 
comes.” 

‘‘ Ta, ta, Virginia ! Why open the door for 
strange people ? Shut it, or I’ll yell. Keep out 
that long streamer of wind that’s trying to come in 
tail foremost. I won’t smell the grapevines ; you 
mean to have me Miss Pride and Prim. Get the 
scissors, and some yellow paper, and cut me out a 


128 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


row of gentlemen and ladies who don’t have to 
wind their watches and wear clothes. Hush, I 
don’t want them now : Cyrus is coming. My dear, 
did you tell me it was a grape year ? Mr. Brande, 
how easy grapes slip down the throat ! Pray, Cy- 
rus; I always liked your prayers of a summer 
evening when the moths would light on your nose. 
It is because you never would take Hu-ber’s Bal- 
sam. Pray, Cyrus. Do I please you ? ” 

“We have had morning prayers, Mrs. Brande. 
I must go to the office. We are forging anchors 
to-day.” 

“ I am forging anchors, too. Our good daughter 
is my anchor. Virginia, take away this mess of 
yellow paper.” 

“ I don’t see any paper,” said Mr. Brande, mak- 
ing for the door, 

“ Cyrus, she hides it. Cyrus, won’t you send 
Chloe away ? Cyrus-Rhoda, Virginia-Cyrus, let us 
send Chloe away, and the bar she drove through 
my head the night you made that beautiful exhor- 
tation in the conference meeting, will drop out. 
Come here, husband.” 

He was compelled to obey her. 

“ Put your ear down, Cyrus. Virginia mustn’t 
hear everything, you know.” 

Unwillingly bending towards her, he waited for 
her to speak. She was fumbling for something 
about the bed-clothes. 

“ There ! ” she screamed, “ take that for not 
sending Chloe away, and forging your anchors.” 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


129 


And she drove the scissors through his cheek. 
For a moment, with the pain and the surprise, he 
lost his temper, and caught hold of a straggling 
tress of her hair, and wrenched it with fury. 

I like it, Cyrus,” she cried ; it does my head 
good.” 

Virginia turned so dizzy and sick, that for an in- 
stant she was paralyzed ; then she sprang forward, 
and shook off his violent hand. 

Oh,” he groaned, staggering backwards ; *‘there 
is no deliverance for the manner of man I am. 
Virginia, what are we to do ? ” 

Go, father, I will amuse her. Mamma, deary 
mamma, I found something for you just now.” 

Give it to me this very minute.” 

I am going for it. Will you stay still one little 
instant ? it is in the garden.” 

Yes, yes,” replied Mrs. Brande, composing her- 
self. 

From his office shortly afterwards, Mr. Brande 
sent a note to Virginia, requestng her to talk with 
Chloe on the subject of taking service in another 
family. The scene they had witnessed that morning 
must have been occasioned by an antipathy to her; 
and it was possible that a great amendment might 
follow, if she were sent away. Virginia made a 
resolution to combat him in this matter, but could 
not resist asking Chloe immediately how she would 
feel if she were obliged to leave. Chloe promptly 
replied that wild horses couldn’t tear her away from 
the place whose crosses she had carried so long. 


130 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


No new place, new miseries, shames and disgraces, 
for her, if she knew her Indian self. Did missey 
think that Chloe would leave her own girl in the 
present nasty lurch ? The thought made her sick 
at the stomach ! 

The thought also made her cry. She ran away 
by herself, bound up her head in a red handker- 
chief, put on a clean starched apron, and sat down, 
clasping her slender, coppery fingers, to indulge in 
the tears of civilization. Virginia, discovering her, 
was dismayed at her strange expression of grief : 
not a feature moved, not a sigh escaped, but globe- 
like tears chased each other down her cheeks, and 
dropped on her hands. Virginia kissed her, and 
said, “ I love you dearly, Chloe — ” 

“ I know I am going,” said Chloe solemnly. 

“ I hope not.” 

“ You were three years old, Missey, when I came 
here, twenty years ago. My baby had just 
died.” 

“ I never knew you were married ! ” 

“ Never was married ; what was the good of one 
of the Masapee tribe’s marrying ? My mother was 
a Masapee, you know. Now, if I should have a 
good offer, of course, I’d marry. I repented as 
soon as I came to live with Mr. Brande.” 

A shriek from Mrs. Brande startled them. They 
flew to her room, and found her gleeful over the 
act which she wished them to observe. Mr. Brande’s 
pulling her hair had suggested the plan of pulling 
it herself ; she held a handful of her silky, pretty 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


131 

hair in each hand. A demoniacal intelligence 
flashed into her eyes when they came in. 

“ You have been telling secrets to each other," 
she cried. “ I’ll tell Mr. Brande. Chloe, what did 
you promise me? ’’ 

“ Missis, I’ve performed more than I promised ; 
always I will stay by you, if you want me to promise 
that, till the last drop of laudleum is gone.’’ 

“ Chloe ! ’’ said Virginia reprovingly. 

“ What does the copper convert mean," asked 
Mrs. Brande, “with her laudleums?" 

“ She means the best, mother." 

“ I am quite ready to permit the woman's stay," 
Mrs. Brande continued, in a dignified voice ; “ but 
why will she walk round and round me every night 
of my life, with something called an infant sprawl- 
ing round her neck ? ’’ 

“ There, missis, you’ve spoke it yourself ! ” ex- 
claimed Chloe. 

“ Hush, Virginia will hear you, Chloe. Now sit 
down, and we will select our evening text." 

When Mr. Brande came home in the evening, he 
found Virginia asleep on the floor, beside her 
mother’s bed. Her exhausted attitude struck him 
painfully ; he bent down to raise her head, and 
Mrs. Brande gave a shrill laugh, which shook his 
nerves, and made Virginia open her eyes to find 
that the skirt of her dress was ingeniously sewed to 
the carpet. As she tried to rise, Mrs. Brande threw 
herself upon her, screaming that her life de- 
pended upon remaining there. Before the affair 


132 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


was settled, every soul in the house was in the room 
in Virginia’s behalf, and Mrs. Brande was at last 
quieted. Virginia, more dead than alive, seated 
herself at the supper-table, and poured tea for her 
father. Neither of them ate a mouthful. Mr. 
Brande’s eyes, however, devoured his plate ; the 
sweat dripped from his forehead, and his ostenta- 
tious handkerchief came in play. 

“ Father,” said Virginia at last, in a low, steady 
voice, “ do you not wish mother dead / I do. Death 
makes life sacred and beautiful, and her life at pre- 
sent is horrible.” 

For the second time that day, Mr. Brande lost his 
self-command. Decorum refused to support him. 
He struck the table with his clenched hand, rose, 
leaned over it, and stared into her eyes, still radiant, 
but swimming in tears. 

When people talk so ,” he said, “ they have a 
narrow escape if the character of assassin is not 
given them. You belie my teaching, and my ex- 
ample.” 

“ I trust so,” she answered, stung into irreverence. 

If I followed your example what thoughts might 
I not indulge in, what dreams inspire me, from what 
source my wishes, my dreams arise ? ” 

He turned so pale, closing his eyes, too, that 
she thought that he would fall face downward 
on the table, and stepped towards him, but he 
raised his head quickly and waved her back to her 
seat. 

“ What of Chloe ? ” he asked. 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


133 


“ I cannot give my consent to her going from 
me, — me^ father. I need her.” 

“ She is useful, I grant. Well, we will see. 
Should Mrs. Brande’s feelings change toward her, 
she shall stay. I inform you, Virginia, that I too 
have my change concerning your mother ; for a 
month past she has passed half the night in crying 
out against Chloe. I do not pretend to know her 
reason for so doing ; but do you not agree with me 
in thinking it best to do all that may possibly tend 
to the restoration of a health important to our well- 
being ? Ahem.” 

Yes, yes, she must leave us, then, I suppose.” 

“ Now go to bed, my daughter. You are ex- 
hausted ; the circles round your eyes proclaim it. 
Must not fade, my child. Ta, ta, good-night.” And 
Mr. Brande was able to flourish her out of the 
room with his old air. 

She was gone, and he stood as if petrified, his 
hand still extended, his eyes moving over everything 
within reach ; they were full of the mocking doubt 
he dared express to no animate thing. Being his 
daughter, and having spoken of dreams and wishes, 
what could she mean ? Was Virginia, whose ap- 
parent character was all loveliness, accursed with 
his secret bane ? If it were so, did she know her- 
self, as he knew himself ? And now to contemplate 
her eternally with this suspicion ! Suppose two sus- 
picions should some time meet, and in their lurid 
lightnings father and daughter stand revealed to 
each other ! Then he laughed because he saw that 


134 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


he did not fail to respect her for self-command. He 
pushed his black coat from his shoulders, thrust his 
hands in his pockets, and paced the room, looking 
into his Janus faces, an able, proud, acute, resolute, 
miserable man, counting one more immolation to 
his creed, — Virginia, — a creed powerful enough to 
shape his actions, but not mighty enough to control 
a single sensation. Chloe, impatient at the long 
delay over the tea-table, came in. The silence op- 
pressed her. The candle flames were not stirred 
by any air ; the moths pushed their feathery wings 
through the blaze, and dropped round it like bits 
of wool. The shrubbery in the window-frames had 
fallen asleep in the dew, and the moon was glid- 
ing by wrapped in mist. 

“ How do you find yourself this oppressive 
evening, Chloe? " 

“ I am a cinder myself, what with this and that, 
sir. There’s so many candles burning. How do 
you like so much ’lumination, sir?” 

room with crimson paper swallows much 
lamplight. It is different in a room papered as 
Miss Virginia’s is, — dove-color and silver. Is she 
in her room ? ” 

“ No, sir.” 

Ah, to-morrow is her birthday.” 

I know you remember it, Mr. Brande.” 

He drew from his vest-pocket a beautiful little 
enameled watch, with V. B. in diamonds and a 
circle of diamonds round it. 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


135 


“ Glory ! ” exclaimed Chloe, “ it beats her other 
watch out and out.” 

“ Pretty little toy,” he said, making the diamonds 
flash ; “ but of no more importance than these 
moths. Brush them out, Chloe, they are annoy- 
ing.” 

Replacing the watch in his pocket, and gently 
withdrawing, he crept softly to his wife’s door, and 
listened there for a long time. It was as still 
within as without, and he hoped that her composure 
would last till morning, at least. But the demon 
who accompanied her that day was not yet satis- 
fied. Before midnight Mr. Brande called Virginia 
up, for Mrs. Brande had disappeared. After look- 
ing through every room in the house, they found 
her rolled up like a ball under Chloe’s bed. Her 
excuse for being there was, that she was determined 
to forestall Chloe for once, and beat her on her 
own ground. 

In the morning Mr. Brande gave Virginia the 
watch, and expressed a hope that on her next 
birthday she would be able to recount as many 
good hours, as, he was sure, she could for the past 
year. She thanked him gracefully, held the watch 
in her hand without looking at it, and begged him 
to grant her one more favor. With a ray of impa- 
tience in his eye, he asked what its nature was. 
“Could she take Chloe to Roxalana Gates that 
evening? ” 

He reflected a moment, and gave her permission 
to do so, adding, that he would send a carriage 


136 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


into Kent for her as soon as he came home. She 
begged him to allow her to go by the path, and be 
sent for late in the evening. He again gave way, 
calling it a foolish and unbecoming whim. From 
the moment Virginia told her mother that Chloe 
was leaving, a lamb-like behavior ensued. She 
asked for her knitting, kept Virginia near her all 
the morning to pick up the stitches which she con- 
stantly dropped ; this employment was varied with 
the ringing of a hand-bell for Chloe and asking her 
if she was gone. Chloe answered the bell, but 
would not reply ; her mood was an ugly one. She 
ceased praying and crying. A stern comprehen- 
sion of Virginia’s future suffering filled her 
thoughts ; as she said afterward, nothing would 
have tempted her to believe in the Lord or the 
Brandes that day. 

“ Attend the meetings, Chloe,” said Mr. Brande, 
when he saw them ready to go. “ My interest in 
you will not cease. As for money, — when you want 
it, it is yours.” 

Chloe made a dignified bow and moved away in 
silence. 

“ Why, missy,” she said, as they struck down the 
path, “ ’twas March when we last walked from 
Temple House. I never see anything pass like the 
time I How is Mrs. Gates, and little Mrs. Drake ? 
And what are you going to take me there for ? 
Who wants me ? And I won’t do a thing when I 
get there.” 

“ Don’t torment me, Chloe, please.” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


137 


^‘No, missy; but why hasn’t Harm Roxalana 
offered us help in this distracting time ? Why 
hasn’t Tempe run in and out, in her old fashion? 
Couldn’t have Capen Argus himself been polite in 
our affliction?” 

“I asked Tempe to keep away, and affliction 
requires no politeness.” 

Nothing more passed. Virginia entered the 
house noiselessly, and opened the green-room door. 
There was no person in the room with Argus and 
Roxalana ; Argus was reading a newspaper at the 
table, and Roxalana was employed in resting. 
Virginia, followed by Chloe, reached the center of 
the room before they perceived her. 

1 think it is Virginia,” Roxalana uttered, with- 
out stirring. 

“Ah, yes,” said Argus, dropping his newspaper, 
and advancing toward her ; but he stopped when 
he sa'y^r her expression. 

“ Roxalana,” said Virginia, “ I have brought you 
Chloe ; will you keep her for me ! She will assist 
you. There is no place for her at our house.” 

Roxalana’s head became thick at once with the 
idea ; she could make no reply, but stared at Vir- 
ginia with a deep gravity. 

“ I'm kinder turned away from Mr. Brande’s 
house,” added Chloe. “ My salt don’t suit his 
bread just now. I can’t say as I see anything 
about here this minute that would make my ser- 
vices ’ceptable. I don’t know as my services are 
worth anything. At the same time I think they 


138 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


are, 'specially with dust webs," and she pointed to 
one hanging from the ceiling. Roxalana’s eyes 
mechanically lifted to it, and remained there. 

“ Keep Chloe ? " said Argus, “certainly; thank 
you, Virginia, for bringing her. Roxalana will 
come to herself in a moment ; her tender nerves 
can bear no surprise, you know." 

Roxalana, shaking with one of her sudden laughs 
and pleasantly observing Chloe, said: 

“ Sit down, then, and make yourself easy." 

“ Roxalana," said Virginia, kneeling by her, and 
speaking in the sweetest tones ; “ I have seen no 
friend for weeks ; have you thought of me ? I 
suffer, Roxalana ; the bleeding at my heart has 
stopped the flow of tears — till now." 

She hid her face in Roxalana’s bosom to stifle 
the sobs that strangled and convulsed her. 

“ Only love may save me," she murmured, — 
“dear, deep, human love; not God’s now, — so far 
away." 

“ My poor girl," said Argus bending over her. 

She raised her face, listening, as if she heard 
music in the distance broken, yet advancing. 

“ She has a heavenly face," whispered Roxalana ; 
“ Argus, do you see." 

A strange shadow darkened his features for an 
instant; she thought he was trying to speak. He 
grew very pale — and turned away silent. 

“ Argus" — she spoke sharply — “ are you about to 
astonish me ? " 

“ He wishes properly," said Virginia, “ to check 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


139 


me; where shall I findTempe?" rising from be- 
side Roxalana subdued as a child. 

She is languid, from the heat,” replied Roxalana, 
“ and has gone to bed.” 

And your new friend ? ” 

Sebastian goes on a journey to-morrow,” Ar- 
gus answered. 

‘‘But he will return, — not to leave us again,” 
added Roxalana. 

“ Will he live here ? ” asked Virginia in surprise. 
, “ Why not ? ” asked Argus. 

“/can not say why not,” she answered smiling; 
“ I hardly know why I asked you. For it is not 
strange to me that anybody should choose to live 
here.” 

“ His being here makes your loan or gift of Chloe 
very welcome. We must have our little domestic 
asperities smoothed in his behalf. I fancy he is a 
luxurious dog, — all the West Indians are.” 

“ Marcy,” exclaimed Chloe, “ you haven’t got an 
Indian in this family, Capen Gates ? It’s as bad 
as having missis — ” 

She stopped abruptly. Argus replied to her 
hastily that the Indian he spoke of was a tropical 
bird. 

While they were speaking the thickness left Rox- 
alana’s head, and a sudden inspiration entered it 
that Virginia loved Argus, but Argus did not love 
Virginia. Here was a situation to chain her to her 
chair for a year ! She thought, her features re- 
sisting all expression, her eyes impervious, “ I 


140 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


love them as one. My affection goes between the 
two, — from one to the other, and lies between 
them.” 

To give an expression of her feelings, or to 
caress, was almost impossible ; so she merely said : 

“ Your father will send a carriage for you, 
Virginia ? ” 

“By and by; I begged him to let us come by the 
path.” 

“ Mat Sutcliffe saw you. I’ll be bound,” said 
Argus ; “ he constitutes himself the guardian ot 
the path. Is that not like one of Tempo’s novels? 
Tempo must come in. Can Chloe go for her ? Try 
your first errand, Chloe.” 

Sebastian opened the door, entering as she passed 
him, with letters in his hand. Seeing Virginia, he 
adroitly stuffed them in his pocket, approached her 
with a deep bow, and stood as if he were waiting 
for her to speak to him. 

“ Where is my jonquil ? ” she asked, with a bright 
look. 

“ Pardon me ; it is so long since. Did you pre- 
sent one to me ? ” 

“ Man’s memory is like his love, I am afraid, — ‘ a 
thing apart.’ ” 

“ Hush, Virginia, he knows nothing of Byron ; 
it surprises me to you parody him,” exclaimed 
Argus. 

“ She is not the queen of heaven,” thought Se- 
bastian, “ only a noble-looking creature of the 
earth. And something has moved her.” 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


141 

She carelessly seated herself in the recess of the 
window upon a high bench. A cloud of brilliant 
white muslin rose about her; her beautiful foot, 
sandaled with black ribbon, tossed under it ; her 
slender white hand, on which diamonds shone, was 
half hid in its fold ; a lovely flush had come into 
her usually pale face, and the silky tresses of her 
black hair strayed down her cheek; her full lips 
were apart, as if she could not breathe otherwise; 
and the blue knot of ribbon on her breast beat 
rapidly. Sebastian as carelessly seated himself on 
the bench beside her. 

And so you are to return ? ” she said, in a low 
voice. “ If I were you, I should not go away.” 

I am sent for. But why would stay ? ” 

I only know I love them all, — their lives en- 
chant me. I can not solve the enigma. That you 
can do so I have no doubt.” 

I do not love them all. I love Argus.” 

Their faces were now turned to the window, 
which was open ; Virginia pulled a twig from a 
bush beneath it, but made no reply. 

“ Yes,” he repeated, “ I love Argus.” 

I am glad you do. I know no person requir- 
ing love more. But is this the way with men of 
the world ? ” He frowned slightly ; she thought 
she never saw eyes with so strange a lustre, nor 
eyebrows so intimidating. 

“ Don’t make me convict myself of sentiment,” 
he begged. ‘‘ How is it an enigma with you, since 
you too say ‘ I love them ' ? ” 


142 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


Tempe burst into the room, crying, “ What has 
brought Brande’s Chloe here ? I saw her prowling 
about, and ran. Oh, Virginia, have you come at 
last 7 Let me sit beside her, Sebastian.” 

She pulled him by the sleeve, and crept into his 
place, and nestled close to Virginia. 

“ You look mighty cool and gauzy, Virginia,” 
she said. “ This black muslin of mine makes me 
sick, — mean, smutty stuff ! If you haven't got a 
new watch ! Let me see it.” 

“ It is my birthday gift,” said Virginia, slipping 
it from her belt. 

The glittering diamonds caught Sebastian’s 
eyes. 

When have I seen diamonds ? ” he murmured 
absently. “ I detest them. I thought they were 
drowned.” 

So I should suppose,” said Tempe. ** They 
grow in the ground where you lived ; with us they 
are like stars.” 

She held the watch against her cheek, which 
looked a little sunken, and fixed a sideways glance 
on him, with immense, haggard eyes, that nearly 
covered her face. He smiled at her kindly. 

” How old are you, Virginia ? ” asked Roxalana. 

Twenty-three.” 

Argus sauntered up to her from the opposite 
side of the dimly lighted room. 

“ Take care,” he said to her. I see lines in 
your forehead. Are you hurrying to overtake the 
wrinkles in mine ? ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


143 


Uncle Argus, — don’t be foolish,” said Tempe. 
“You are a dreadfully old man, while Virginia 
is a fresh beauty. I am glad to see it.” 

“ The old men are immortal,” said Sebastian, 
“ when Aurora loves them.” 

“ I hear wheels,” cried Virginia, “ now I must 
leave you. When, — when shall I see you again ? ” 

“ Let us trust soon,” answered Argus gravely. 
“ It is impossible for us to offer you any service, — 
that we know. Come, I’ll walk down to the gate 
with you. Chloe will be there, and I will shut off 
her hysterics.” 

“ Wait,” said Tempe ; “lam going home with 
you.” 

“ No,” said her mother, “ I do not wish you to 
go ; neither does Virginia wish it.” 

“ I shall go, mother.” 

“ Nonsense ! ” called out Argus from the door. 
“ Stay where you are, you have seen the new 
watch.” 

Tempe’s eyes filled. 

“ What can prevent my going ? ” 

“ Let her go, Roxalana,” said Sebastian. “ It is 
best.” 

“ To-morrow, mother, you will see me.” And 
Tempe ran down the lawn, past Argus and Virginia, 
and sprang into the carriage. 

“ The brat is going, after all,” said Argus ; “ but 
you will take care of her.” 

“ She may go,” replied Virginia ; “but you know 
that I can not take care of her.” 


144 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


“ It takes all your powers to preserve the fine 
balance we admire in you." 

Oh, Argus, — the courtly Sebastian makes you 
false." 

“ I am verging on my second childhood, — that 
is all." 

“ It does not please me to see you soften so ; it 
threatens one." 

“ Seriously, I find that I am weaker. I supposed 
my fibres as tough as those of your father, my an- 
cient ally. He is a consistent man. Admire him, 
Virginia." 

“ Now are you ready ? " called Tempe. ‘‘ Ask 
Moses to drive along Bank street. Good-night, 
my lovely uncle." 

Good-night, little weedy one." 

Why do you wish to go by Bank street?" 
asked Virginia. 

“ At the end of Bank street," answered Tempe 
sharply, shuddering, — “ do we not come upon 
Burying Hill ? Sha’n’t we see every white stone 
on its summit shining in the moonlight ? I wish 
to take a look at them. You may view the bay 
on the other side of the street. Water and 
moonshine represent that which pleases you ; the 
vague and the mysterious. The high, solid mound 
of earth, filled with lesser mounds numbered with 
blocks of marble, represents that which I am in 
search of. Here we are already, at the end of the 
street. The desert opens — " 

Tempe leaned out of the carriage, and was silent. 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


145 


Virginia, struck with her mood and with the scene, 
was silent also. Moses, as if in sympathy with the 
occasion, checked his horses, and they walked at a 
funeral pace down the street along which ran the 
wide base of the graveyard hill. The wheels 
grazed the edge of the bank on the opposite side, 
and below it stretched the bay. No sound came 
from the grassy beds of the dead ; the air passed 
over them without a sigh. The bay was almost as 
quiet ; along the sandy shore its volume gravely, 
gently pressed, and rolled in illumination ; its sur- 
face, as far as the horizon rounded the bay, — a dim 
dark coil, — was one mass of swaying moon-rays, — 
the bed of silvery gods.” Virginia’s senses 
fluttered as they came in contact with the spirit of 
the night ; Ah, could she but bring Argus here ! 
When he walked beside her just now, under the 
drooping elms, in a sacred darkness, and she felt 
the leaves softly brushing against them, — why was 
she not permitted the inspiration given her now ? 
The bright, piercing sweetness of the hour touched 
her lips with a fire which should be kindled on 
his lips also. Icy, stern, unyielding as they were, 
they could but melt and weld with hers in that 
first and, alas, only kiss born of virgin passion, — 
which expires when it is born, whose beautiful ghost 
haunts men’s minds forever, tempting them to pur- 
sue every path which diverges from every faculty. 

Her hands reached up into the air imploringly ; 
they fell back on Tempe — Tempe contemplating 
the grave ! 


146 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


“ Yes, yes,” she cried, in a moment, Virginia. 
Tell him to drive fast now ; we shall soon be out 
of sight of it.” 

The carriage wound round the hill, and struck 
on the lonely road leading to the Forge. Turning 
to Virginia, Tempe said : 

“ That was for good. I have found the sermon 
whose text has been running in my mind lately. I 
know, now, that I never loved him. I don’t care 
that ” (snapping her fingers) “ for his memory ; 
the sight of his monument did not move me one 
whit. I don’t believe I have been wicked. What 
are we to do, if a positive feeling keeps contradict- 
ing the conscience bought and paid for ? ” 

“ Hush, Tempe ; how wild you are ! ” 

** You can feel my pulse. I am as cool as your- 
self ; and am about to put myself under your 
training.” 

To prove the truth of her remarks, she broke 
into violent weeping, and Virginia, obliged to fore- 
go her own mood, — her entrancing speculations, 
— soothed her, instead of telling her how cruel and 
unmindful she was. Tempe held her hands, and 
lay on her shoulder, till, irritated beyond endur- 
ance, Virginia began humming between her teeth, 
and Tempe, remembering that sign of impatience, 
grew gentle and wheedling. 

Let out your voice,” she coaxed. “ Come, are 
you not sentimental ? I know so. Sentimental 
folks sing, and make verses, — especially late at 
night.” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


147 


“ If I sing for you, will you let me take you 
home ? ” 

“ No : Sebastian must be gone first. In the 
morning I shall go back, and find myself minus 
any number of bows from his grandeeship.” 

Tempe was suddenly quenched by Virginia’s 
voice, which smote the air with the passion of a 
nightingale : 

“ Hark ! like the swell of the ocean, 

The blood throbs through my heart, 

At a flitting, shadowy fancy 
That to-morrow — you depart. 

Hark to the swell of the ocean ! 

Our last words have been said— 

And the wings of my flitting fancy 
To-morrow will fan me — dead ! ’* 


CHAPTER XX. 

T he lines which Argus avowed were on Vir- 
ginia’s forehead, really appeared between her 
dark eyebrows,— the bar-sinister in her history. 
Her father observed the shadow in her face and 
misinterpreted it ; to some beholders it would have 
seemed as sweet and somber as a summer land- 
scape in the shadows of a setting sun, when its 
rays slowly change the appearance of wood and 
meadow without disturbing their character. The 
vision of possession impossible to be obtained had 
passed across Virginia’s mind, and left a trace in 
her face, more beautiful now than before. Dreary 


148 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


days followed her visit to Temple House. Out- 
side was the arid flush of August ; the grass was 
dry and brown, the shrubs gray with dust, and 
overrun with insects ; the sky was like blue enamel, 
beneath which white boiling vapors spread and 
vanished. Inside was the wretched spectacle which 
Mrs. Brande continually presented. Virginia felt 
herself a mechanical force, merely set in mo- 
tion by her mother’s necessities, or her father’s 
demands. It is certain that he was not touched 
by the ordinary punishments of life. Other men at 
this time would have shown anger or dejection, or 
have absented themselves for business or diver- 
sion ; but he applied a nicer regularity to his and 
Virginia’s habits. Many troubles fell on him. His 
business unexpectedly went wrong ; an outside 
connection failed him, and he lost money. Even 
the Forge was threatened ; should its fires go 
down, two hundred men, a large share of whom 
were improvident and intemperate, would be 
thrown out of employment, — and a force be thrown 
into the town the consequences of which he might 
have to answer for. There were no other iron 
works within a hundred miles, and none in the 
county besides manufactured an engine for which 
he had imported many of these English and Scotch 
workmen. A mad wife sat at his board and slept 
in his bed. The effect of the crimson and green, 
the yellow and blue of the walls, decorations, and 
furniture of his house, was imprisonment. Vir- 
ginia was a caged bird. Financial ruin perched 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


149 


over the ledgers in his office. The church, with 
its clinging, personal government, pressed upon 
him, and Kent, with a hundred sapless social in- 
terests, curbed and fretted even the freedom of his 
perplexity. Through it all, however, he carried 
high his smooth-shaven, long chin ; flourished his 
fine cambric handkerchief, — a furled flag over his 
knee, or a waving banner in his hand ; and kept 
the pupils of his eyes within their limits. In every 
situation his mind strove for the inspiration which 
must come to declare safety and success. It flashed 
into his mind one evening at a conference meet- 
ing, while he was giving a short exhortation from 
the text, “ A good tree can not bring forth evil 
fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good 
fruit,” and be laid hold of the high mahogany rail- 
ing in front of him as if it were the lever by which 
he was raising destiny to his level. When the 
brethren at the close of the meeting exchanged 
customary salutations, they remarked upon brother 
Brande’s fervor ; rich as he was in worldly favor, 
it appeared to them only a mirror which reflected 
his piety. That night, the old tortoise-shell cat 
who lived in the premises of his office purred be- 
side him, dozed and blinked her green eyes in the 
pleasant silence of his motionless figure, as he sat 
absorbed in thought. He trifled and toyed with 
the plan ; let it run from him ; bit it, cuffed it, and 
finally closed upon it, with a sharp, smiling energy, 
and mastered it. He did not leave his office till 
breakfast time, — six o’clock, — on a fair, dewy, sum- 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


ISO 

mer morning, when the St. John’s wort blossomed 
everywhere, even on the borders of the blackened 
path across which he walked. Meeting Virginia 
on her way from her mother’s room, he followed 
her into her own chamber, and adjusting a picture 
which hung awry, asked her how her mother had 
passed the night. 

“ As usual,” was the reply. 

He took a chair, and Virginia sat down also. 

You have not remained with your mother any 
whole night till now, if I rightly recollect. Do 
you think her incurably insane ? ” 

At this question her experience compelled an in- 
tuitive preparation for some inevitable change 
which she must agree to, and its necessity sharp- 
ened her ever-rising opposition. 

“ She is incurably insane,” he continued, having 
obtained no answer ; but she may live for years. 
I propose taking her to Dr. Tell’s asylum, for I dare 
not leave her with you ; — she may grow violent 
again while I am on my journey. I am going to 
see my old friend Garfield, on business.” 

Wherever she is, sir, the burden will be the 
same to me. I must still be a dutiful daughter. I 
rebel against the service, though ; it hurts, and 
stains, and tears. I am only saying this, you 
know ; the family tie so binds my feet that I can 
not advance one step in any path where my soul 
should take its pride and pleasure.” 

You venture to deduct your personality from 
the relations with which Providence surrounds you I 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


151 

My daughter, we may not do this. Mankind is a 
groveling herd, beneath the pressure of a mighty 
hand ; let no one raise his forehead above the mass, 
with the excuse oi *me* written on it. You astonish 
me ” — he paused an instant, with the thought that 
she did not astonish him, except in speaking so 
recklessly of treasures never to be spent. “ Let me 
ask you,” he resumed, “ since you are so fearless 
with speculations you have no business with as a 
well-trained girl, — to suppose one, — a man power- 
ful enough to dictate himself any course in 
life, — what limit would there be to his subtle 
crimes ? I say, they would be as incessant as his 
breath.” 

I do suppose such a man,” she cried, with kind- 
ling eyes, “ but one incapable of crime.” 

“ He does not exist, except in the fancy of brain- 
less women. Virginia, comprehend yourself, if you 
have the ability, but let your knowledge in no wise 
be tampered with by a specious will. We are in 
this world for other reasons than to live, and move, 
and have our being. Ta, — your shoe-lace is unfast- 
ened.” 

He moved towards the door, but suddenly turned 
towards her again, and said : 

Will you be ready to accompany Mrs. Brande 
to Dr. Tell’s by the close of the week ? Attend 
carefully to her dress. The letters which may ar- 
rive for me while I am absent, must be first looked 
at by yourself ; if they contain no claims upon me 
return them to the head clerk for answer. Please 


152 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


order a new set of lace curtains for the west cham- 
ber, as you know your mother has amused herself 
with embroidering the old ones with twine. It is 
possible that young Garfield may return with me.” 

“ I shall attend to your requests.” 

“ Get Chloe back if you like.” 

“ No, I think not.” 

Ah ; come down and give me my breakfast. 
Did you ask me about my business embarrassments ? 
They will amount to nothing ; you are not to read 
my letters, except with your eyes. Certainly, my 
daughter, my affairs have caused the change you 
and I have decided upon. Is that a new color — the 
stripe in your dress ? You are too tall to wear 
stripes, — broad ones, especially. I remark that I 
dislike that stripe exceedingly. Why do you wear 
the dress ? ” 

“ Shall I change it, sir ? ” 

‘‘ Yes ; I will wait for my breakfast a short time, 
of course ; but it will be waiting.” 

He descended the stairs leisurely, whisking the 
balusters with his handkerchief, and sharply listen- 
ing for a sound from his wife's room. Before he 
reached the foot of the stairs, she opened her door, 
and hung over the railing from above ; he looked 
up and stopped. There was a light in her face 
which had been there before, but so long ago that 
he remembered he was only twenty years old when 
he married her. There was something bright and 
pleading in her poor eyes, something sad and quiv- 
ering about her poor lips, — yet he could have cursed 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


153 


her for blasting so many years since then, bravely 
as he had carried them. 

‘‘ Cyrus,” she said in a low voice, “ are you going 
to bury me in Sodom or Gomorrah ? My feet and 
legs are already dead. Leave my head above the 
ground, sweet Cyrus, for you know I am Rhoda- 
Cyrus. To tell you the truth, now, and oh, how 
many times I have lied to you, my godly boy ! my 
head won’t die ; it’s full of ramshackle ; — see how 
it goes.” 

Her head nodded from side to side, but he scarcely 
noticed it, he was so full of the hope that she might 
be dying, and it made his heart beat. He stretched 
our his hand, and mildly said : 

“ Come down, Mrs. Brande, for breakfast is late. 
Come ; 1 would like to have you see Virginia’s new 
dress.” 

“Yes, yes,” she answered, limping along. “ You’ll 
forget what I said about the vine-clad Noah ; I 
never meant it.” 

Offering her his arm, he looked into her face 
earnestly. 

“It was the sun shining through those green 
shades,” he said to himself, “ nothing better.” 

Just before his departure, Argus surprised him 
by calling at his office, — a place they had not met 
in since their business transactions were closed, 
when George Gates was mysteriously discovered — 
dead. Mr. Brande passed the palm of his hand 
softly along the green cloth of his desk as Argus 
approached him at an easy pace, and a fear touched 


154 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


him ; was it possible that the cold-headed Gates 
had learned he was in danger of foundering ? 

“ I suppose,” said Argus, slipping into a chair, 
and twisting his long legs together, “ that some 
cursed association has sent me here. I am in want 
of money, — damnably so ; not so damned damnedly 
as before, however, for it is for a friend this time, — 
Sebastian Ford, not George Gates, my brother. 
How do you suppose his spirit contrives to exist, 
Brande, unless he can sponge on the saints ? ” 

“ Ta. Do you expect to get back any cash that 
you may advance to your friend ? ” 

You will. He has drawn on me for a thousand 
dollars. I have not got much over a thousand 
cents.” 

Mr. Brande tore a check out of an attractive 
looking folio, filled in the required sum, and handed 
it to Argus, saying, “ I am glad to be able to oblige 
you.” Argus perceived the ring of truth in his 
accent, and asked him if he really placed no value 
on a thousand dollars. 

“ If I were a hypocrite, I should answer that I 
only value money for the advantage it gives me in 
aiding others ; as I am not, I own I appreciate the 
fact that every age has been governed by what 
money it could produce, — iron, brass, or gold. 
Why don't you improve Temple House, and sell it ? 
The brink of ruin would not suggest that idea, 
though. The brink of ruin ! ” gasping out the last 
words. 

“ What the devil ails you, Brande ? Has the 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 155 

drinking of sanctimonious sherry strained your 
head ? Change your tipple.” 

So you come to me for money to-day, Gates ? ” 

“ I feel sure that this is the evidence of my so 
doing.” And Argus looked at the check. 

Cyrus smiled faintly. Argus rose to go. 

“ I do not yet know,” he said, “ when Sebastian 
will return ; when he does, the color of the thou- 
sand will reappear in this very spot.” 

“Very well,” answered Cyrus absently. 

“ I hope Mrs. Brande is better.” Argus said, 
with a courteous gesture. 

“ Hope her dead. Gates, for God’s sake ! ” cried 
Cyrus, amazing himself as well as Argus with a 
burst of nature. 

“ For Virginia’s sake,” Argus answered gravely. 

“ I am going to take my wife to a mad-house to- 
morrow, and keep her there ; she is a beast, and a 
frantic idiot, and has made my soul sick.” 

“ Virginia ! ” said Argus again. 

“ Let Virginia alone, and pity me.” The tears 
were streaming from his eyes like rain ; he had 
rolled his handkerchief into a ball, which he held 
tightly. Argus backed gently to the door. It 
seemed to him that the fabric of Cyrus’s life was 
dropping to pieces all at once ; he wished to get 
away before it fell to utter ruin. The coldness in 
Argus’s face stopped the flow of tears from Cyrus, 
as ice stops the flow of blood from a wound. 

“ I am astonished,” he said presently ; “ aston- 
ished that I should be given over to such wander- 


156 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


ing. The sight of you, Gates, has done this. Be 
off, my dear sir ; I must compose my mind." 

“ It is necessary, Brande, dropping all cant, for 
us to arrange our condition with a view to compos- 
ure. We are tricked, however, now and then — our 
opponent gets the odds ; I consider you an un- 
common victim. It will blow over, though.’’ 

“ Good-day, Gates." 

The office door closed, and Cyrus felt that it en- 
closed a smaller man than it did when Argus en- 
tered. He ground his teeth with hatred of the 
tears which had so suddenly fallen ; “ Gates," he 
thought, “ is an adversary"' 

“ Brande and I are growing old," was the com- 
ment of Argus. “ Pshaw, why hasn’t he killed 
that wretch before there was a chance of his crying 
over her. Poor Virginia ! " 


CHAPTER XXI. 



IDE vistas of sunshine opened from the doors 


V V and windows, — spaces left bright and tranquil 
by the absence of the Brandes. Neither at door nor 
window, nor in any avenue, except that which leads 
to the dark gate whose latch clicks in the ears of 
mortality but once, — was Rhoda-Cyrus seen again. 
The merciless combination, deserved in her case, 
which is sometimes unaccountably made against 
individuals to punish weakness, error and crime, 
crushed her. 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


157 


Mr. Brande staid away weeks instead of days, as 
he had anticipated, and in consequence work was 
suspended at the Forge, — to be resumed, he wrote, 
upon his return. A loneliness which grew into a 
revelation to Virginia prevailed in her domain. 
She heard the ripples of Apsley river, as they 
gently swept upon the little sand flats left bare by 
the summer drought, and inhaled the odors which 
silence expresses in woods and flowery thickets. 
Her wretched cares were gone ; the influence of 
that propinquity which governed and belittled her, 
shred itself like a husk from the nature capable 
of enduring great solitude. Sitting in the door- 
ways, as she loved to do, before the river, or fac- 
ing the empty Forge, and beyond the feathery 
tops of the pine grove, with eyes watchful of all 
within and without, she felt a new intelligence, 
sad, subtle and sweet, which she could enjoy, but 
not define. The halcyon day broods alone on 
the placid ocean of time, and this day, covering 
many mornings and evenings, ended naturally and 
inevitably. Wandering to the grove one day, she 
met Tempe, who sat at the foot of a tree, contem- 
plating a handful of cones. 

Our lady of the manor,” she said snappishly, 
without raising her eyes. 

Virginia held out her hand, with the feeling that 
a forgotten existence was re-beginning, but Tempe 
did not take it ; she dropped the cones one by one, 
speaking : She loves me a little — not much — 
none at all ! ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


158 

“ How long have you been playing in the grove, 
Tempe ? ” 

Not as long as you have been playing solitude 
at home. Mother has been looking for you at 
every window in the house for a long time. We 
knew you were at liberty. You couldn’t even send 
for me ; however, I shall visit you every day from 
this out. I am extravagantly fond of exercise. I 
intend to ruin my constitution with walking. I will 
walk. What are you looking at me for, with 
cucumber eyes ? I am tired to death with your 
coolness. Oh, Virginia, can you help me ? You 
must do something for me. I feel as if I were 
about to die.” 

“ Come home with me, then,” said Virginia im- 
patiently ; “ but I will not have you so flighty. 
Suppose Roxalana did watch for me, — she knew a 
little solitude should be spared me. Well, I have 
had it, it is over ; I am quite ready to attend to 
you.” 

“ Attend ! I conclude you are the administrator 
of my estate ! ” 

“ How is Chloe ? ” 

‘‘ She has imported her Brande customs. Mother 
allows her to stand behind her chair at the table ; 
she keeps an Indian silence, though, before uncle 
Argus.” 

The picture of the past unrolled in Virginia’s 
mind like a dun cloud, in which the striving forms 
of her mother, Chloe, and her father, were giganti- 
cally visible. She looked about her for the spirits 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 159 

of the air so lately with her, but nature had 
withdrawn her new friends. 

“ Something should be done for me^ Tempe.’' 

The idea ! As if you ever needed being done 
for ! I hear of your troubles, but can’t see them. 
You keep healthy, well-dressed, and your glacial 
air. What would you have ? ” 

“ I would be turned into an old, benevolent, 
crooked fairy, for the sake of conferring upon you 
the power of dropping pearls and diamonds through 
your speech.” 

“ Much obliged,” Tempe replied, with a blush ; 
“ wouldn’t it be more in your line to change rats, 
mice, and pumpkins, into horses and coach, with 
which I might go in search of the young prince ? 
In that case I should be happy to offer you a seat 
in my carriage. Come, I am ready.” 

They started arm in arm, Tempe either pushing 
forward, or lagging backwards, and spasmodically 
voluble in fault-finding. 

“ Tell me news,” begged Virginia. “ How is 
Argus? When does the friend, Mr. Ford, re- 
turn ? ” 

“ Argus sits out of doors now, under the elms. 
His chin has got an upward cant from investigating 
the air for mysterious tidings of that Sebastian 
Ford ; but at present uncle Hunks is mild. He 
says ‘ yea,’ and ‘ nay,’ without showing teeth or 
claws ; isn’t he a miser, though ? Yesterday Mat 
Sutcliffe caught him. ‘ Cuss me to dregs, marm,’ 
he said to mother, ' if Capen Gates isn’t in the 


i6o 


TEMPLE HO US 


summer-house trying to sew a patch on his shoe. 
But he can’t do it ; God has not given his other- 
wise able constitution the cobbling gift.’ ’* 

“ What did Roxalana answer, Tempe ? ” 

‘‘ She answered Sebastian" \ and Mat sat down, 
put his hat under the chair, and railed at con- 
trarywise things till mother ordered him to leave.’' 

“/f Sebastian coming back?” Virginia asked 
drearily. 

“ Probably.” 

Argus sacrifices himself to that man.” 

“ Say, rather,” cried Tempe, vehemently, “that 
he returns thanks, and makes offerings to himself, 
for being occupied with an emotion worthy of and 
in harmony with his character. I feel a little 
strange upon the strength of his theory ; the air is 
full of moving black specks.” 

Her head dropped heavily on Virginia’s shoul- 
der, and her arms fell limp and helpless. 

“ Keep up, Tempe, you are faint only. We are 
nearly home ; I see Moses now, — Moses ! ” 

Moses hurried out of the yard at her call, and 
together they carried Tempe into the house. 

“ Of course,” said Martha, the cook, from behind 
her, where she was endeavoring to unfasten her 
dress, while Virginia was wetting her face with 
cologne-water, “ you know the circumstances this 
young woman is in.” 

“I should think so, — a fainting-fit is evident 
enough.” 

“ It won’t be long,” continued Martha, in a tone 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


i6i 


of contempt, before this vale of tears will be bur- 
dened with another crying soul in swaddling 
bands ; though I don’t know that it will be allowed 
the bands, for Miss Hopkins, the best nurse in 
Kent, says the faculties don’t approve of ’em.” 

Virginia rose up in mute astonishment, and me- 
chanically applied the cologne-water to her own 
forehead. 

’Tisn’t so,” gasped Tempe, opening her eyes 
upon Martha. There isn’t a word of truth in 
what you have said. I’ll die first.” And she 
struggled to her feet, eyeing Virginia defiantly. 

I never was better ; and I have come to take tea 
with you, Martha.” 

Virginia immediately ordered Moses to harness 
one of the horses, and be in readiness to drive 
Mrs. Drake home ; and Tempe, in spite of her 
protestations to the contrary, soon found herself 
there. 

It has turned out,” said Roxalana, after read- 
ing a note which Moses had delivered, “ as I had 
expected, — that you would be sent home suddenly 
from somewhere ; and now I demand that you 
remain near me.” 

“ Mother Roxalana Gates, you ought to be the 
last person to insult me. I say, I shall go out of 
doors daily.” 

“It is the most absurd thing I ever heard, — 
going out at present.” 

Tempe stamped her feet violently, and Roxa- 
lana, from a momentary terror, winked her usually 


i 62 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


impassive eyelids ; then recovering herself, she 
lifted Tempe, and carried her upstairs as if she 
had been a feather. 

“ Cruel old Egyptian woman ! ” said Tempe, out 
of breath. “ I am happy to say that I do not love 
you, nor any woman. I hated Virginia to-day, and 
I’ll tell her so ’to-morrow.” 

Roxalana watched her in silence ; and at last 
Tempe kicked her shoes off, and tugged at the 
fastenings of her clothes. 

‘‘You’ve had no supper,” said Roxalana 
abruptly. 

“ 1 11 taste nothing to-night, nor to-morrow, nor 
the next day. Should you happen to leave the 
room, I might go to sleep, however.” 

Roxalana, seeing that she was in earnest, left her 
with the excuse of attending to supper, but imme- 
diately sent Chloe after Mary Sutcliffe. 

Before morning a son was born to Tempe. At 
its first cry on being compelled to breathe the air 
of an alien world, Roxalana took it, and said in a 
voice which sounded like the ringing bells of an 
under world : 

“ I name this child George Gates^ 

Two great tears rolled from her eyes, and bap- 
tized the babe in sorrow, remembrance, and hope. 
Then she held the treasure up to Tempe, and 
Tempe resolutely shut her eyes against it. 

When Mary Sutcliffe emerged from the outside 
door at daybreak. Mat, who was lounging on the 
steps, caught her and swept her along ; then he 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 163 

brought her to a standstill, stopped, and asked : 
“ Why the devil can’t you tell me the news ?” 

“ Poor thing ! ” answered Mary, with a groan, 
determined to scare and punish him for his foolish 
fondness for Tempe. 

“ Hold your jaw,” he said, planting his feet 
apart, to keep himself steady, being seized with a 
giddiness. 

“ She’s all right, I tell yon ! ” screamed Mary, 
frightened at the effect of her trick. “ Roxalana 
named it George.” 

Somehow Mat was not able to curse her as she 
expected : he was still a moment, and then spoke, 
as if to himself : 

“ Named it George, has she ? I shall have to 
give in, and own up to women's souls. 'Tis so, or 
she’d never hand down that rascal’s name. How is 
little Tempe ! ” 

“ Tempe is a devil-cat, — same as ever. You’d 
better go back and wake up Argus ; I don’t 
think he will be much pleased, either. Some- 
how or other I shall get word to the Drakes to- 
day.” 

“ It is old Drake’s grandson, that’s a fact ; I had 
forgotten all about that ere family.” 

I am in hopes they’ll send something worth 
while to it, though the Gates family have behaved 
shamefully to the Drake family.” 

How’s that, Moll ? ” 

They’ve let ’em alone so entirely.” 

Mat laughed, and continued good-natured all 


164 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


that day, being secretly happy over the fact of 
what he called the Gates Continuation ; there was 
no other chance for the family survivorship, and, 
for his part he wanted to leave a Gates above 
ground, when he took his final dip. Mary, also, 
was secretly proud of the baby, and took pains, as 
she had promised, to have the Drakes informed con- 
cerning it. Mrs. Drake hurried out for appearances 
sake, and bought a basket arranged for the unhap- 
piness of infants,— filled it with cambric robes, and 
sent it with her love. Mr. Drake sent a heavy silver 
cup and congratulations. Tempe measured the 
depth of the embroidery on the robes with her lan- 
guid fingers, and swung the cup by its handle. 
When the baby was a week old, Virginia called upon 
it with a box of toys, and looked at the little crea- 
ture with awe and amazement. 

“ Did you ever see so fine a child ? ” asked Rox- 
alana. 

Did you know before,” asked Tempe, “ that 
the human young was uglier than anything on the 
earth ? ” 

“ See its perfect hand,” continued Roxalana, 
“ its soft, brown hair. And it knows a great deal 
already.” 

What does Argus say ? ” Virginia asked, some- 
what embarrassed at Roxalana’s enthusiasm. 

“ He says that the world is overpeopled,” Tempe 
replied. 

Roxalana looked up at Virginia, with a sad, 
dumb smile. 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


1^5 

‘^He says what he should say,” continued 
Tempe ; “ I had no idea, till now, how much Uncle 
Argus and myself are alike.” 

“Oh, Tempe!” cried Virginia, indignantly, but 
was prevented from going on by Roxalana’s plac- 
ing the baby in a large arm-chair, its present cradle, 
and motioning her to go out. 

“ Have you had new dresses lately ? ” asked 
Tempe, as Virginia rose hastily, and adjusted her 
mantilla. “ I believe you can wear every color. 
A corn-colored barege is the last thing I should 
have chosen, but it becomes you. Come here, and 
let me examine the trimming.” 

Virginia approached, and felt a degree of re- 
morse at the touch of Tempo’s hot, fragile hand, as 
it passed over the rosettes of her showy dress. 
“ I might as well,” Tempe continued, “expect to 
sit upon a cloud with gauzy angels, as expect a 
dress so rich, peculiar, and attractive as this. Do 
you, can you, imagine the state I am in — a chronic 
shuffle between shabby black and a night-gown ? 
Stop ! Don’t dare to offer me a present. I offer 
you my thoughts and opinions freely, and do not 
wish for the return I can guess you would like to 
make ; but I won’t be shut up. I know you are 
generous. There, go, I am tired. Give me the 
box of toys first, — I want to see what you have 
brought Old Bunch.” 

“ My dear,” said Roxalana, accompanying Vir- 
ginia downstairs, “it is certain Tempe’s behavior 
is outrageous. She is the same under all circum- 


i66 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


stances. She resembles Argus in nothing ; I should 
be sorry to have you influenced a moment by her 
rash opinions.” 

The expression of sincerity in Roxalana’s face, 
and the transparency of her diplomacy, were over- 
powering. Virginia could only kiss her on each 
cheek without uttering a word. 

“ I don’t think it quite safe,” Roxalana went on, 
^Ho leave Tempe ; I am not sure that in some 
freak she will not hide the baby from me. I be- 
lieve she is deficient in what is called natural affec- 
tion ; how can it be helped ? To tell the truth, I 
have little faith in it ; it is a habit, a tradition, — 
irksome, terrible, destroying sometimes, as I have 
seen ; so we will not condemn Tempe.” 

Her hard, rude speech smote Virginia like a salt 
breeze, wholesome because so utterly sincere ; but 
it toppled down not only her theory but her prac- 
tice. 

“ Yes,” said Roxalana, a dark red rising in her 
swarthy face, a steely illumination breaking through 
her eyes, “ I am convinced by my years that friend- 
ship, love, the singular emotion which rises like a 
wall of rock, or fire, or ice, and hides, protects, and 
separates two souls, man and woman, from all 
other men and women, have little to do with our 
circumstances, acts, and duties ; they come from 
the nameless Spirit in our consciousness, whose 
face we never see, and whose will we never under- 
stand.” 

She paused with her heavy lips apart, as if she 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


167 


had been obedient merely to the Spirit she had 
named, and as if she were ignorant whether its 
large utterance would continue. Virginia felt a 
great envy before this simple, unselfish woman, so 
incapable of being swerved from her narrow 
bounds ; then she grew proud because she loved 
her. 

By the way,” said Roxalana, “ I am indebted to 
you for Chloe. I should hardly know how to man- 
age without her. I don’t think there is much waste 
about her. I hope you intend that she shall 
remain ? ” 

Now, Roxalana, will you let me breathe ? 
You are welcome to her. I am glad I can do that 
much. Go back to Tempe ; I will see Chloe, and 
then walk home by the path. The shrubs, Roxa- 
lana, are turning already before the frost. But 
what a long year ! It seems ten years since I last 
picked the umber-streaked smilax and the yellow 
sassafras, going home from my happy visits.” 

“ Oh, yes, Sebastian has doubled the year ! You 
will find Chloe in the kitchen. Farewell, Virginia.” 

Farewell, Roxalana.” 

I knowed you were here, missey,” called Chloe 
from the half-opened kitchen door, before Roxa- 
lana had disappeared from the upper hall. ‘‘ I’se 
longing for the Forge since sunrise. There's no 
smell of coal in this God-forsaken house. But I 
ain’t plagued here, by no one. He's out in the gar- 
den now, a-thinking these three hours. What peo- 
ple have to think of when there is no religion in 


i68 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


them, is past my finding out. Missey, how be you, 
my dear child ? You have nothing good to say ; 
keep your mouth shut. My knees know more than 
my tongue can speak. Sit down, if you will ; do 
you think it looks clean ? Shu ! Mrs. Roxalana’s 
kitchen work pizened me. She isn’t more than half 
facultied, between you and me ; but the captain is 
tidy, and sharp, — nobody can say more than this 
in his favor ; 'taint to he said. I suppose I was 
sent to labor in this field ; there is a reason besides 
why I should stay. Can you guess it ? ” 

“ No.” 

They are Indians, — now they be, in spite of 
white skins and learning. You needn’t look so in- 
calulous ! ” 

“ Nonsense,” Virginia answered absently, step- 
ping to the window and looking down the garden. 
“ I should like a sprig of box, Chloe. How cool 
and bright the dark borders look.” 

“ Help yourself, missey.” 

She had vanished, and was already hovering over 
the mounds of antique box, — a fanciful reminder 
of those slow-moving, brilliant autumnal butterflies, 
whose silent, varying flight suggests that they 
search for a mystery which the crooked vales of 
air and the uneven surface of verdure hides. Her 
heart went forward to the summer-house, dictating 
her feet to follow. It was the bold, trembling, in- 
spired moment which occasionally seizes one, and 
leads on to a crisis, which becomes astounding, 
when it has passed. Argus was seated on a low 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


169 


settee of boughs and wattles, his arm resting on a 
little table of the same material ; his hand hung 
over its edge. He had given over thinking, to fall 
into a quiet slumber which had removed his sarcas- 
tic frown, his contemptuous smile. Pale, yellow 
bars, and patches shaped like leaves, played on the 
wall behind him, dropped on his grizzled chestnut 
hair, across his breast and arms, like impalpable, 
swift lizards. Virginia felt rather than saw that 
his eyes were closed as she approached and stood 
before him. Her heart was beating so she had to 
wait for her breath to come and go more quietly. 
She watched the light playing over his cold stead- 
fast face ; his bowed head and long drooping 
hands, so fixed and motionless in their pale hue, 
reminding her of the pictures in illuminated mis- 
sals. Stooping towards him, she softly put her 
hands in his, and was caught in an iron grasp. 
Argus stood up, wide awake, and drew her close to 
him ; their eyes met, and instantly he disengaged 
his hands. 

“ Why, my girl, Virginia," he whispered, turning 
his face away ; but she struck him lightly, and said: 

“ Look again, Argus, and read me something." 

He was obliged to meet her eyes again, and as 
he did so a faint streak of color passed over his 
face. It seemed to him that he was recalling 
something that had happened long ago, — events, 
or incidents, which perplexed him when passing, 
although he did not know it till now. He shook 
his head involuntarily. Virginia started back; her hat 


170 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


fell, dropping between them ; Argus frowned at it, 
as if a positive obstacle intervened ; he muttered 
something, and picked it up. She took it and 
moved towards the door of the summer-house, still 
facing him ; she looked so sweet, so sincere and 
womanly, that a mingled pang of longing and 
regret seized and shook him terribly, — still he only 
allowed himself to mutter again unintelligible 
words. 

Argus ! ” she called quietly. Her face was 
hard and set now, but by her smile he saw she was 
deeply hurt ; he sprang towards her. 

“You would have me confess, Virginia, that I 
am a man, after all, and that I am touched by 
the flame burning in you. Does it please you to 
hear me? As for oaths, — come here, — put your 
head against my heart, — it swears by what it must 
reject.” 

It moves, Argus, does it ? ” 

“ Yes, physically.” 

She shuddered violently. 

“ Don’t,” he cried. 

It seemed she could not speak. She was 
strangely pale, and languidly rested her head 
against the door which she had reached by slow 
degrees, retreating steps ; she opened her hands 
as if shaking something from them. He laughed 
slightly, and, as pale as herself, said : 

“ I wish that one of us could escape.” 

“ I must go,” she answered, after a moment’s 
silence, during which Argus felt that he could pull 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


171 

the summer-house down, to cover a caress which 
would have no hereafter. 

“ But let me say,” .she spoke now in a clear 
voice, “ as I go, how rare this interview seems.” 

Rare ! ” 

The combination never came to me^ till 
now, — when emotion suited the circumstances, 
and time and place fitting, too ; I have missed 
them hitherto.” 

She was gone, and Argus, in spite of an aston- 
ished disappointment at her bearing on depart- 
ure, was glad ; his first wish was to regain com- 
posure, the second to forget that it had been dis- 
turbed. He left the summer-house, whose atmo- 
sphere was stifling, and went to the lawn, where he 
stayed till he saw the evening star burn in the 
radiant twilight, and sink behind the elms into the 
crystal sea, and a wan crescent moon appear in the 
emerald-tinted sky. Roxalana was waiting at the 
tea-table when he went in. Chloe had told her of 
his meeting with Virginia, and she discreetly man- 
aged to be alone. 

“ Take your tea, Argus.” 

“ Certainly, give me tea. This cup is cracked.” 

“ They are all cracked ; we have nothing 
whole.” 

‘‘ The devil ! And do you like it so ? ” 

“ I am sure it suits us.” 

The whole concern is a ruin ! ” 

True.” 

“ How could anybody ever be possessed with an 


172 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


idea which separates me, as part and parcel, from 
this decay.” 

“ It is remarkably strange, I confess, — such an 
idea.” 

‘‘ Did you, Roxalana, accuse me of being a dolt, 
an idiot, in your thoughts, when you knew that 
Virginia Brande was flitting about me this after- 
noon ? ” 

“ Virginia Brande is a saint.” 

“ That was the news my veins conveyed to me ; 
but I’ll have nothing to do with saints. I do not 
love them.” 

Argus, I desire you not to speak so.” 

“ I never will again. I am sorry, Roxalana, that 
this cup is not perfect, because I am going to break 
it. Don’t go yet.” 

She snuffed the candles, took one, and held it up to 
his face, surveying him with an impenetrable stare. 

“ I think,” she said, putting it down, “ that you 
are the most detestable man I ever met.” 

Have you forgotten George ? ” 

“ He, at least — ” 

“ I am not anxious to hear of the ‘ at least.’ I 
said I loved neither saints nor women ; but I love 
and respect life. After having made a pretty job 
of it mending sundry'fissures, do you think I am 
going to allow anybody to drop the frail article in 
pieces before me ? Don’t you go out of your 
natural straightforwardness to think otherwise. 
Mix me a glass of brandy and water : keep out those 
lumps of sugar ; I shall be as drunk without.” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


173 


She sat beside him while he sipped from his 
glass. 

“ Had I better send for Mat ? ” she asked. 

“ Send?” 

“ Yes, by Chloe.” 

“Oh, Chloe is here, is she? Virginia’s Chloe ! 
No, I will not have her disturbed. Go you to bed, 
and I’ll send the bottle after you. Look you, 
Roxalana, this is my last glass ; I shall never 
empty another bottle. The occasion has come and 
gone forever, — as it came and went with Sebastian. 
The rulers shall share no cups from the brim of 
their will with me. The rack was stupid in com- 
parison with the fine assaults made on a man, which 
bare his system. Have you seen a rope-dancer 
walk from the roof of a theatre to the footlights, 
on a single cord, when the audience had but one 
breath ? Or do I mean that crowd of shining 
angels climbing up and down Jacob’s ladder, every 
round a nerve ? Hold on, Jacob, or wake up.” 

“ I always felt,” replied Roxalana, perfectly un- 
moved by his remarks, “ that the time would come 
when you would cease to ask me for brandy.” 

“ Now you may go. I like you, but have seen 
enough for the present of the woman for whom — ” 

At sunrise the next morning he was under the 
elms tranquilly smoking. Its golden light was shut 
out of Virginia’s chamber. She lay in her bed with 
breath rising and falling in the mute, gray air, 
sleeping as one sleeps after suffering pain, — in 
deathly oblivion ; strands of her splendid hair half 


174 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


wrapped her white throat. Her hands, nervously 
alive, were twisted above her head, and the out- 
lines of her tall figure, from her compressed lips to 
her crossed feet, betrayed the anguish which slum- 
ber is merciful to. The sprig of box lay on her 
Bible near her bed, her hat was on the floor ; but 
the dress which she had worn was carefully folded 
to be put away. No one ever saw her wear again 
the becoming dress, with its velvet rosettes, which 
Tempe had been so envious of. 


CHAPTER XXII. 

HE natal day was of so little importance to 



1 Argus, that it would have passed unobserved, 
had not Roxalana’s tenacious memory proclaimed 
the fact he was now forty-two. The autumn, as in 
other years, bestowed its tranquil, penetrating in- 
fluence upon him ; its spirit, dwelling in purple and 
silver vapor, the golden shafts of sunrise and sun- 
set, the scented, moderate wind, and the subtle, 
transforming leaf, imparted the old sense of mate- 
rial perfection. But the feathered arrows of change 
hurtled in his atmosphere, and the passions which 
invest life, as closely as lichen spreads over the in- 
capable rock and impassive tree trunk, began to 
assert their existence in his. Between all the rela- 
tions which surrounded him, — from the absent 
Sebastian to baby George ; Roxalana, whose affec- 
tions were mastered by the child, and from 
whom vivid rays of happiness passed to her heart ; 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


175 


Tempe, whose manifestations were new ; Virginia, 
banished, and again overwhelmed by fresh demands 
at home ; and Mat Sutcliffe, who had retired from 
the captain, in his devotion, apparently, and fallen 
into a strange idolatry for “ G. Gates," as he had 
called the baby from the beginning ; — it was cer- 
tain that Argus was for the present left solitary. 
His dominion was shaken, and the habits which 
his inflexible taste had ordained for the household 
were breaking under a hand, whose pressure he 
could not control. If in these changes differ- 
ent moods possessed his habitual silence ; if, a 
vague chaos threatening his horizon, those deep, 
wingless desires which sometimes lodge themselves 
in the depths of one who is deserted at the flood 
tide of his abilities, came, — and expressed their 
presence in his face or mien ; if restless, or quiet, 
if he ate, slept less ; whatever he did, it was un- 
noticed. Obviously he was the same man ; sensi- 
tive to insensible objects ; indifferent to vital ones ; 
cheerful, composed, hard, disdainful, and regard- 
ful as a miser of the outgoing of every cent from 
his pocket, — a strange fact, since he never cared to 
save, or earn, a dollar. The child he rarely spoke 
of ; when Roxalana approached him with it, and 
made an attempt to attract his notice, he snapped 
his fingers at it, with, Here, you sir, stew boy." 
He made no remark to Mat about it, not even 
when, with a clumsy tenderness touching to behold. 
Mat was taking his “ G. Gates " round the garden, 
and allowing him to put out his eyesight, and pull 


176 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


his whiskers up by the roots. Argus was pleased, 
however, to worry Mary, who was jealous of Mat’s 
devotion ; she was warned concerning the birth- 
right of her own boys, and was so moved thereat, 
that she tormented Mat till he flew into a rage, 
which induced him to pack his oldest boys off to 
sea, and apprentice his oldest girl to a tailor. 

Put that in your pipe and smoke it,” he said to 
her ; “ my next move will be wuss. I’ll set you to 
picking oakum. Where’s your pride, and where’s 
your memory, and where’s your calculation ? The 
time comes to such folks as the Gates’s, when they 
all tumble into some gaping hole, and nothing ever 
rises up but a little cloud of dust dry as yellow 
stuff. Who can take G. Gates by the hand then ? 
Who will be left to do it, but me ? An old, drunk- 
en, ignorant vagabones can do it ; and blarst me 
if ever he grows up old, ignorant, and a drunkard.” 

“ Them Drakes can do it ; and it is their right to 
do it ; and they ought to do it ; and you’ve no 
business to poke your nose into what isn’t your 
own concern ; and my gal’s pricking her fingers in 
Philip Dyer’s stinking shop, — all because of your 
tantrums. Mat Sutcliffe.” 

“ The Drakes ! Never while Roxalana Gates 
and I are above ground will they get that boy. So 
shut up, and clear up. Ain’t it a dull time of year, 
I’d like to know? I have got too much time on 
my hands, just as you’ve got too much tongue.” 

“ I’ll let people know how things stand, see if I 
don’t,” said Mary finally. But Mat knew she 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


177 


would venture no further than rating him to the 
best of her ability. Meantime the child grew 
bright and winning. Mat went to Temple House 
every day before he went to his work in the morn- 
ing, or on returning from it at night, and sat in 
conclave with Roxalana, exchanging notes of ad- 
miration, and predictions concerning him. When 
the teething period arrived, the times he was passed 
from one to the other, and experiments made upon 
his gums, could not be counted. 

“ Let’s see if he’ll eat,” was Mat’s prevailing re- 
quest. And “ Do you think he gains in weight ? ” 
was Roxalana’s incessant question. 

For the most of the time Tempe hovered in their 
neighborhood silent, and with haggard looks ; her 
eyes were larger, and more shining. She was 
tame now, but still unloving ; if her child cried, she 
moved farther from it ; if it laughed, she turned her 
head away. No one ever saw her kiss it. 

** Argus,” said Roxalana, one day, “ I believe that 
Temple absolutely hates that child.” 

Damnation ! — what did you expect of her ? — 
that she would sit in a blue mantle, like the Vir- 
gin Mary, and smilingly offer it to an adoring 
world.” 

For a moment the obdurate heartlessness of 
Tempe, and the heartless coarseness of Argus, gave 
her the thought that she was not quite a happy 
woman ; but it only brought the dark flush to her 
cheek, and faded with it. Argus observed it. 

Pooh, — Roxalana, I am too old a fellow to make 


178 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


a woman blush. Didn’t you tell me the other day 
that I was forty-two ? ” 

“ If you can tell me what age has to do with the 
regular beating of the heart, perhaps I can explain 
why the blood shows in my face against my will.” 

“ Against your will ! The perpetual faculty of 
a flush is given your sex ; it is your rose of expec- 
tancy. There is something cunning in you all. Is 
your mind ever off the idea of assault, insult, re- 
sult ? I notice the red flag unfurls at the slightest 
contrary breath from a man’s mouth.” 

Roxalana laughed, and pressed her plump hands 
together, as if they were a pincushion from which 
she was trying to extract concealed pins. 

“ I am not to be driven away just now, Argus, by 
any language ; Georgey is asleep, and I am entirely 
at leisure. I don’t object to be badgered, as you 
know.” 

Chloe will answer better for badgering ; she 
stands it well.” 

Roxalana laughed again, and said that she thought 
Chloe was invaluable ; she blessed the chance which 
sent her to them. 

So you do. The madness of Brande’s wife, and 
the loss of Virginia’s nurse from babyhood, were 
your gain.” 

Having made up my mind that it is impossible 
for me to see God’s justice in this world, I have also 
made up my mind not to be affected by that which 
I have no power over.” 

God’s justice,” he repeated reflectively : “ how 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


179 


could you make up a mind about that ? I have the 
fancy that you do not believe in a Divine Being.” 

“ I choose to have no belief. One way or the 
other, belief is a frightful thing ; it assassinates 
everything except itself. If I know^ or feel^ I am 
content ; when these facts become impossible with 
me^ of what use can belief be ? ” 

You are curious — for a woman. What do you 
think about death — that Jack-in-a-box ? A grim, 
fantastic toy, of which we must spring its lid.” 

I abhor death and the dead, — cruel, treacher- 
ous falsifiers to all we pretend to be. How dare 
you name a subject so terrible ? I never dwell 
upon it.” 

“ It is a very indifferent subject to me, Roxalana ; 
when I die, my love for life will be gone, of course. 
Underground will suit my six feet prone, as well as 
the air suits my upright six feet now. Where is 
your snuff-box ? I think I will adopt your habit.” 

Roxalana gravely offered him her tortoise shell 
box, remarking as she did so that snuff was her only 
vice, and wondering whether all people of a certain 
age did not drop into some comfortable weakness. 
So the conversation started by her remark concern- 
ing Tempe ended, and was not renewed. The 
inspiration of words comes oddly and unexpectedly, 
especially with those who do not study their feelings. 
It has little to do with chance, and the environment 
of circumstance is nothing to it. Words so spoken 
may reveal, decide, and make important that which 
has hitherto been unknown ; sentiment may be 


i8o 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


originated and relations established by the speakers 
who remain ignorant till utterance has passed their 
lips. Little George asleep, the accidental appear- 
ance of Roxalana in the spot where Argus happened 
to be, the few words that passed between them, 
brought about the opinion with Argus that no 
temptation could ever separate him from Roxalana, 
and fixed one with her that life without Argus 
would be worse to endure than the pangs of hated 
death ; and that she would rather be the first to 
die and be supported by his strength and courage, 
which she thought equal to face all mortal terrors. 

These ideas, extending the bond between them to 
the confines of existence, had in no wise any out- 
ward effect ; they were put away for future use, and 
were not even to be mentally referred to, without 
occasion. Could Chloe’s acuteness have discerned 
all this, she might not have felt the necessity of 
approaching Argus as a missionary. She perceived 
that Roxalana’s attention was drawn from him, and 
that Mat only had eyes for “ G. Gates,” and argued 
that though he was no Christian, and would be 
eternally damned, he ought to be considered an 
authority in his family, because he provided for it, 
and because there was something about him that 
made the natural supply of well- ironed shirts and 
carefully cooked food imperative. Who could do 
this but herself ? She gradually assumed the power 
of ministering to his wants, and they grew accus- 
tomed to each other in a characteristic way that 
would have astonished Virginia, but which was 


TEMPLE MOUSE. 


i8i 


scarcely observed by Roxalana and Tempe. Her 
first advance was made and accepted upon the 
slight occasion of Mat Sutcliffe’s putting his head in 
one day at the green room door, while she happened 
to be there putting some dishes away in the glass 
cabinet beside the chimney. Argus was there, also, 
drumming on the table she had cleared a slow march 
with his fingers. Mat stared round the room with- 
out speaking. 

“ 'Tain’t here,” she said sharply ; “ it’s a-waiting 
upstairs with its grandma, to be cuddled and pal- 
avered with. I hope you don’t smell of tar more 
than usual, — it lasts so long arter you are gone ! 
’Tis most as good as having your company the 
whole time. I’m feared if folks come in, they’ll 
'spect the whole family have got the itch.” 

Mat withdrew his head, and slammed the door 
so hard that Argus stopped drumming, and said : 

“ What are you so savage with Mat for, you 
hussey ? Don’t he like your color ? ” 

** As the times is as they is, and I conclude they 
be, I don’t expect to insist your treating me in a 
wseful manner, sir. Any time that suits you will 
suit me, I think I can stand it. A man who dan- 
gles his legs easy over the steep where the swine 
rushed can be no trouble to me, as long as I do 
my duty, and keep him clean and comfortable. I 
wash my hands of everything else. Can’t say, 
though, but that I like being here ; can’t help my- 
self, it’s the Indian in me that loves the God-for- 
saken independence in this house.” 


i 82 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


“ If you do wash your hands, I submit to having 
your fingers in my pie, though they do resemble 
adders. How is it that Brande’s wife never felt 
your fangs ? You are a fine woman, Chloe, and 
belong to a past generation of females possessing 
hips. How is your ankle ? I don’t know that I 
object to the turning of the world which brings me 
Africa, and the lost tribes.” 

** Sarse” said Chloe, triumphantly. 

** You must have been the salt, up there at the 
Forge. How did you lose your flavor ? ” 

“ Missey had to part with me, she sent me, — no, 
Le sent me from one fool to — Mrs. Gates.” 

I was sorry.” And then Argus appeared to 
forget Chloe’s presence ; he turned his hand over 
and over, scanning it as if it were an object foreign 
to himself. She watched him, and wondered if 
ever so impudent, self-contained a man ever lost 
his balance. 

You are fond of ashes, are you ? ” she asked 
sharply. *<You are always on the hearth, either 
here or in the kitchen ; or do you think you will 
scare me from burning out the wood ? I thought 
every gentleman in Kent owned woodland, and 
that they never begrudged waste. What may be 
the worth of a few sticks of oak, hickory, or yel- 
low pine ? ” 

That was an excellent dish you served us with 
at dinner,” he said, rising, looking into the cabi- 
net, and changing the position of the china she 
had placed there ; “ it reminded me of one I tasted 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 183 

years ago, — flavored with the Barbadoes cherry. 
It was before she was born.” 

“ Mrs. Brande is about your age, Captain 
Gates.” 

Confound you, what are you talking about ? I 
own nothing. What is the ownership of a shell, — 
named when men and women built it together, and 
made themselves its kernel — Temple House > The 
ties of property, — mutual interests, — those relations 
which slip into each other like the scales in a coat 
of mail, and which compose the armor worn to 
keep us erect before God, and crooked with the 
devil, — are not for me.” 

Chloe began to twirl her thumbs, and look va- 
cant, as she did at conference meeting when the 
speaker was dull, though she was mindful that his 
language was at variance with his quiet utterance. 

Mind you, though,” he continued, “ every 
stick you burn, every loaf you bake for me, I can 
be as cold and as hungry as any of my neighbor- 
atoms, and I love food and warmth, as well as the 
rapt disciples did.” 

‘‘ It was no new dish I made,” she answered. “ I 
never did see such folks in all my days ; don’t 
know what’s what. Miss Tempe shook her head 
at it, and said she hated hash ; and why did I put 
myself out to make our poverty unendurable, says 
she ? ” 

Argus made a motion to her to attend to the 
business she was engaged in, and not to disturb 
him. She obeyed, quite contented with the feeling 


184 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


she had that number two was gained over, and 
that she could devote herself to Argus as she had 
devoted herself to Virginia, without the hope of 
any reward, and, in his case, without the hope of 
appreciation. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

T he anniversary of Tempo’s marriage, with its 
vision of a snow-storm and a bridal veil, and 
that of her widowhood passed. The Drakes, con- 
ventionally mindful of both occasions, but dislik- 
ing Tempo’s immobility, and indifferent towards 
Argus and Roxalana, sent black-edged cards to the 
family, and presents to Georgey, instead of paying 
visits. The events were apparently forgotten by 
Tempo, who was no more silent than usual, no 
paler, and betrayed no emotion. No remembrance 
or hope drew her towards the boy, — sole tie be- 
tween herself and the dead, — to move her to say, 
‘‘ Sweet, my child, I live for thee.” That endur- 
ing, sacred passion, the love no desire can buy, 
which a mother alone knows ; that buds, blossoms, 
and bears at once like an orange grove ; is felt with 
the kisses which drop like rose-leaves in hands that 
bend and cling like tendrils ; in imperious feet 
that choose to trample upon her ; in the sobs like 
smiles, and laughter full of tears ; in the rapid 
beating of the child-heart which acknowledges one 
necessity — existence with hers ; this Tempe never 
felt. Happily, perhaps ; for would not the time 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


185 

arrive when the single aim of her son's existence 
might be a woman who had not attained the state 
of motherhood ? When all the episodes connected 
with maternal life might fall as void in his memory 
as a morning mist falls void in the rays of the sun ? 
When the years of maternal sacrifice, the immola- 
tions of all other relations, the decay of all indi- 
viduality not bearing on the maternal interest, — 
might be remembered a&-a dream, dead and done 
with the actualities of the present ? 

Without dwelling on the speculations of reason, 
or analyzing the instincts, Roxalana celebrated 
these anniversaries ; unconsciously she blended the 
wedding and the funeral, and regarded them as one. 
The aspect of the latter day she studied as an out- 
let for certain questions which dimly rose in her 
mind, and distracted for the moment her attention 
from Georgey. Never leaving the house on any 
pretext, the relief which one finds in the open air 
did not occur to her ; a look from the windows, 
and going from room to room, were the limits 
of any unwonted restlessness. A pale sun glim- 
mered over the lawn like a hollow shell ; black, 
bitter dust whirled round the house, and struck the 
panes ; the gray air and the gray ground held the 
roar of heavy wheels and hoofs, the melancholy, 
reluctant creak of the boughs, and the wail of 
crowded, wandering winds. The atmosphere within 
was dismal and vacant ; human interest seemed 
to have departed ; the incapable hands and feet 
of those whose efforts so long ago consecrated the 


i86 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


now unused apartments were waiting for the resur- 
rection to make them plain again. They could 
not now care for the trifles which lent inspiration 
to the beings endowed with the obligations of being. 
The events of thought and feeling occupy little 
time and space ; they may be so invisible in the 
ordinary drama of the day, that the decree which 
decides the future is made, and the bystanders only 
observe that a man is twisting his mustache, or a 
woman adjusting her ribbons. These mental ex- 
periences, while happening, do not appear remark- 
able till afterwards, when they take the possessions 
of facts in the mind, and the power which belongs to 
acts is attached to them. Roxalana’s spirit contrac- 
ted a shadow at that time, which hid itself till ready 
to spring out in full and terrible growth. Wrapped 
in a dark shawl, moving through the dismantled 
rooms, on that side of the house no one ever had 
occasion to enter, slowly and heavily, she looked 
like one of those quiet, expectant, colossal statues, 
whose knees are buried in the drifting sand, whose 
faces are forever darkening in the desert air. 
When Georgey, a few months afterwards, was car- 
ried to one of these rooms dead, — she remembered 
herself, — moving slowly, heavily, and understood 
her sadness. Long before sunset, it grew so dark 
in the green room and the kitchen that she thought 
a gale must be rising, and climbed to the attic to 
get a view of its progress over the bay. At the 
sight, she recalled Sebastian, and her heart lifted like 
a wave at the thought of his escape from the sea. 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


187 


The shores bristled with layers of frozen brine, 
with jagged edges ; dull, soiled sheets of ice gaped 
over the tide line. The bay bore no sail ; no win- 
ter fowl skimmed its surface ; the dark waves rolled 
and burst without glassy bubbles or white foam ; 
the coldly blue mass traveled its bounds, within 
headland, cape, and bar, and returned upon itself, 
baffled by the power of frost. Though she shiv- 
ered at the dreary prospect, its wide extent and 
immensity of motion stirred her sluggish mind. 

“ Sebastian should have returned before now,” 
she said. He must not tempt the winter sea a 
second time. And yet 1 wish he would come,” 

“ Missis Gates,” called Chloe on the passage, 
“ I’se looking for you, cause I can’t find anything 
else.” 

I came up to look at the weather.” 

Marcy on me, missis, there’s plenty weather be- 
low.” And Chloe entered the room. “Is it likely 
that I may find a cullender here ? ” 

“ Do you believe in Ghosts, Chloe ? ” 

“ Why, missis ? ” 

“ Those blasts, all over the room, that do not 
come from anywhere, appear to me to be the breath 
of ghosts.” 

“I think they come from holes in the roof. 
What may be in this closet ? ” 

“ I never noticed there was a closet till now.” 
Chloe opened the door and examined the shelves. 
“ There’s something queer,” she said presently. 

“ Anything useful ? ” asked Roxalana, the tide 


i88 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


of sombre feelings turning into that of curious 
ones. 

“ I wish it was a cullender, — and it ain’t,” Chloe 
answered, handing something to Roxalana. 

“ It is a yak’s tail,” said Roxalana. “ My father 
had one ; a friend brought it to him from India. 
It is used there to brush flies away. This is set in 
an ivory handle ; I am glad to have it for Georgey.” 

“ Who put it there, Missis Gates ? ” 

The former owners of this house probably. 
What else is there ? ” 

“ Only the ghost’s breath, that’s all.” And Chloe, 
shutting the door advised a retreat from the cold. 

The devil ! ” said Argus, when he saw the yak’s 
tail. “ Where have you been ? ” 

“ Have you not been oppressed to-day, Argus ? 
There seemed to me a storm brewing, and I went 
upstairs to look down the bay, and while I was 
there Chloe came up and discovered this in the 
closet.” 

Chloe had better keep out of my closet.” 

Chloe, being present, threw up her head con- 
temptuously. 

“ Light the candles, Chloe,” said Roxalana. “ It 
is a relief to have the day over. I do not observe 
landmarks generally, but I could not help recalling 
past circumstances connected with Tempe.” 

Did you recall them ? There’s no prospect of 
a storm. You have felt lazy to-day. Why not hi- 
bernate entirely, since you are squeamish about 
weather and it happens to be the storm season ? I 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


189 


should not be surprised if hell was bad weather 
merely. Should you wish to slumber through the 
winter, I judge it is safe to entrust Chloe with the 
lictorship. Get your axe, Chloe.” 

Chloe looked offended, and said that she was no 
cat ; and believed herself as neat as the next person. 

If you still insist on remaining awake, Roxa- 
lana,” he continued, “ you will be obliged to en- 
dure the fact that at last the future will be but the 
past. The present sifts the future through the 
mind, grain by grain, fine as dust ; crag and bank, 
coast and continent, crumble and slide into a shoal 
abyss, which is yet wide enough to dissolve them. 
Chloe, when were you at the Forge ? ” 

He was remembering the wedding night, and 
thought of Virginia beside Roxalana in a robe of 
tulle ; her beaming, gracious eyes spanned the 
distance between them like a bridge, her brilliant 
black hair shone so in the light of the candelabra 
under which she sat that his eyes were dazzled. 
He would have turned away had he not discovered 
that he was waiting Chloe’s reply, and cursed him- 
self for asking a question which did not concern 
him. 

A few days ago, sir, I was at the Forge. They 
are hammering tremenjus nowadays ; the fires 
are so hot that the snow has melted in a ring 
round the buildings, and the ground is as black as 
your hat. Missey is losing herself like, and grow- 
ing worldly ; Martha says she has to do up Mr. 
Brande’s white vests oftener than ever. There’s a 


190 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


young man in the house — Martha thinks he is a 
fixture. He plays cards, and missey sits by glum 
and attentive. He smokes, and drinks wine for 
his dinner ; and says she to me — Sarah, the girl 
that waits — says that Mr. Brande sets down the 
light decanter and the dark decanter as easy as if 
they were vegetables. Missey, I know, winks hard 
at these things. Haven’t I seen her shut her eyes 
before now ? ” 

“ Brande plays a good game. It is the right 
news to hear, Roxalana — that young man is his 
partner. It is proper that Virginia should be 
_jWorldly.” 

“ It is bad news, Argus.” 

“ You are as wise as a bell-wether. Does Tempe 
mope more than usual ? I scarcely see her, and 
do not know whether she broods over something 
gone — her plaything, or whether she is simply imp- 
ish according to her constitution. Little women 
are mostly diabolic ; I am grateful to you, Rox- 
alana, for being somewhat overgrown.” 

“ I am the better for that, so far as the labor 
which I perform goes. You owe me nothing.” 

“ You are mistaken ; to your life and character 
I owe an ease which mother, sister, wife, could not 
give me. How shall I reward you — by fervently 
remembering that you are a respectable granite 
boulder ? ” 

“ Maintain any doctrine, Argus, you like ; I am 
entirely accustomed to you. With Tempe you 
must exercise patience.” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


191 

I’ll continue to exercise indifference ; patience 
implies the hope, or expectation, of a change of 
opinion. I shall have but one opinion. A glitter- 
ing scale occupies the place in her breast where, 
by the courtesy your sex demands, we locate the 
heart. Let the girl alone ; neither to you nor me 
is she accountable.” 

“ Mother, he is crying in his bed,” said Tempe, 
coming in, and languidly walking to the win- 
dow. 

“ He is crying ! ” echoed Roxalana : I pre- 
sume you have listened to him for some time.” 

. There was no accent of reproach in her voice. 
Tempe shook her head. 

“ I had rather,” continued Roxalana, with her 
hand on the door-latch, “ hear the most hateful 
sound you can conceive of, than hear the least 
whimper from that child. There should be a rigor- 
ous law passed that children should never be suf- 
fered to shed a tear.” 

She closed the door, and Tempe looked down 
the lawn as silent as before. Argus watched her 
with a bitter smile. 

“ The Drake child is nearly six months old, isn’t 
he ? ” he asked presently. 

She flashed round upon him, and twisted her 
mouth for a reply. 

“ Hasn’t the lawful time arrived for you to slip 
out of this black state ? Put yourself and the baby 
into short clothes, and let us see if you can not 
attain a better air.” 


192 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


Give me some money, then.” And she held 
out her little hand, with an exquisitely impertinent 
expression. 

“ I haven’t a dollar ; Sebastian took every cent. 
I borrowed some for him, besides ; he is spending 
it somewhere, I suppose, in a manner refreshing to 
himself.” 

Her face turned to flame. 

Chameleon,” chuckled Argus, “ what’s the mat- 
ter with you ? ” 

I think Sebastian is a man,” she cried, ‘‘ who 
has everj^hing ; he can match and beat you at 
points. He has always taken to himself what- 
ever is sweet and good, I know he has ; he is 
a bad man, and I would like to see him killed. 
And if he is a Spaniard, why hasn’t the Inqui- 
sition crushed him before now, the cool, abun- 
dant, gorged creature ? And I should think, Uncle 
Argus, you would hate him, for he is not like you 
at all ; he just stands alone, and no man nor woman 
can pull him down. He can browse on the clouds, 
if he chooses ; and be insolent on the top of the 
walls of heaven, if it pleases him to walk out on the 
ramparts.” 

“ Had he walked in at my door like an ordinary 
comer,” said Argus gravely, “ I might feel indif- 
ferent to him ; but I saved his life, at some strange 
cost to myself. I have been strained ever since, 
there’s no denying it. Hoh, by God — I feel cor- 
dial toward him ! ” 

Argus jumped from his chair, and lunged back- 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


193 


ward and forward, his eyes alight, like coals 
touched by a sudden draught. 

Didn’t I say so ? ” said Tempe ; I call you 
demented to praise him.” 

I don’t praise him.” 

I call it praise.” 

“ Away with you, puss ; better not quite forget 
that it is possible for you to make life somewhat 
agreeable to yourself.” 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

V IRGINIA, so it appeared, forgot that she was 
playing with the new partner, Mr. Garfield, 
the innocent and ancient game of backgammon. 
She held the dice box suspended over the board, 
and did not shake it. Mr. Garfield’s eyes were in- 
differently fixed on the blazing rings which adorned 
her motionless hands. He was a brave, savage- 
looking man, and any energetic reminder from him 
that the game was at a standstill would not have 
surprised the spectator, had there been one ; but 
they were alone. The folding doors of the best 
parlors were apart ; the chandeliers were lighted, 
the chairs stood in groups, the open piano was lit- 
tered with sheets of music, and gilded books of en- 
gravings lay open on the tables, but the guests 
were gone. Mr. Brande, formerly ubiquitous in 
his house, so long as there was anything to be 
transacted, or anybody moving, had surreptitiously 


194 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


gone to bed, and there was no person up except 
themselves, and Sarah, the waiter, who sat yawning 
in the dining-room, impatiently waiting to hear Mr. 
Garfield’s boots going upstairs, on their way to be 
placed outside his bedroom door when stripped 
from his impudent legs. Late as it was, she was 
destined to remain in her place some little time 
yet, which gave her the opportunity, and she im- 
proved it, of inventing new opprobrious names for 
him. The house was pleasant still with light and 
warmth, and filled with that silence so attractive at 
night, when all the paraphernalia of living is per- 
fectly adjusted without the accessory of life. The 
fires were burning, the lamplight was steady, the 
walls, doors, and furniture shone darkly, and the 
colors, glaring red and blue by day, were now soft 
and sombre. With every hour of quiet, the plants 
in Virginia’s conservatory leading from the upper 
hall lived in deeper dalliance, and sent their per- 
fume through the air in shocks of delicious sweet- 
ness. A rain-storm had suddenly begun, and 
though the shutters were closed it trickled through 
the slats, and modestly streamed down the panes, 
as befitted its entrance into Mr. Brande’s house; 
a murmur came from the roof, also, and the well- 
built doors were obliged to thud in their frames oc- 
casionally. It might have been that Virginia was 
listening to these faint sounds, which prevented her 
from throwing the dice. Abruptly and passion- 
ately she burst out with: 

“ What day of the month is this ? ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


195 


Mr. Garfield, not to be surprised, bowed slightly 
and answered: 

“ The twenty-first of March.” 

“ So I have just thought, and the time is nearly 
past ! Oh, my blind, stupid, animal memory, that 
needs the blow of the wind and rain to wake it.” 

She pushed away the table that stood between 
them; the frown, now habitual with her, concen- 
trated into dark lines, and altered her sweet face 
to that of a woman’s acquainted with trouble. 
Dropping her face in her hands, she appeared to 
have forgotten Mr. Garfield, as well as the game. 
He threw himself back in the chair, his short, 
amber-colored hair showing well against the red 
velvet cover, and his wide head looking still wider 
in its relief; his lids narrowed as he contemplated 
her, till his eyes were mere lines, but the lines ex- 
pressed a meaning seldom allowed there. 

“ Association ? Reminiscence ? ” he asked. 

She rose as if she saw a vision, pointed her finger 
at him, and replied: 

“ Terrible ones.” 

“ How tall you are ! ” he involuntarily exclaimed. 
Argus saved Sebastian — ” 

There are two then ? ” he inquired, with a smile. 

“ Two strong, beautiful men.” 

‘‘ And I,” said Mr. Garfield, leaving his chair to 
stand beside her, “ am I not strong and beautiful ?” 
He caught her hand, and interlaced his finger with 
her. Have I not waited long enough, Virginia ?” 

“ For what ?” 


196 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


** For you. Say now that you will be my wife.” 

“ Me — who stand here as your hostess ? well, 
perhaps something nearer, — your friend, since she 
allows you to bruise her fingers. Release my 
hand.” 

He stepped backwards, and faced her; their eyes 
were exactly level, whether the lids were up or 
down, pupil matched pupil. 

“ It may be absurd, but do you know that I ex- 
pect to marry you ? When your father came to see 
my father, his old friend, worth — let me see how 
much, — say three hundred thousand dollars, — I 
heard him describe his daughter and his Forge, one 
as handsome, talented, free, the other as an ugly 
fixture, restricted, encumbered. I believed him; so 
did my father, a clever sharp old man. He said, “ Go 
to Kent.” I came, and am not sorry for coming. 
There is a hundred thousand dollars of my money 
here; every day of my stay has cost me hundreds. 
I gamble with the Forge for your speech, your ges- 
tures, your attentions, your presence , — iox you. I 
love you. Do know what that means ? Do you 
understand men, my princess ? We are procrea- 
tors, providers, protectors, but we are lustful, acute, 
selfish for you women; the best, wisest, most tender 
hero is also what I say. What would be the form 
of society if we were not so ? When our functions 
cease, let us be children again, and gentle, fulfilling 
the charities, and bridge our way to heaven. Be 
my wife, give me children ; divide with me the 
goods of this world ; change the look which is in 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


197 


your eyes sometimes, — an expectation of the thin, 
airy goods of the next world, and meet mine in 
that hope which allures weak men to madness and 
death, and incites strong men to pluck the jewels 
from the crown of life, and wear them as kings.” 

“ You are quite right and just,” replied Virginia, 
in your views ; so much so that I almost wonder 
that my heart does not leap forward, and fall upon 
you in gratitude and humility, and accept you. 
Yet it does not. I refuse to take my lot with you ; 
my ambition does not lie in the direction of the 
king’s lair.” 

She spoke with coolness, but her heart throbbed, 
and a faintness swept across her ; she did not dare 
venture crossing the room, and resumed her seat. 
It was Mr. Brande, asleep in his bed, that caused 
her faintness, not the young man near her, who also 
resumed his seat. The portrait of her father, and 
his intention regarding her, which she contemplated 
in the light of this interview, was not flattering ; it 
terrified her. A regiment of Carfields, enclosing 
her in a hollow square, could not strike her a cow- 
ard ; but that placidly slumbering man upstairs 
made her wild with apprehension. Her respect and 
submission prevented her from blaming him ; it 
was reasonable and natural for him to suppose and 
expect such a marriage possible and probable. 
Why not ? She raised her eyes to Mr. Garfield, and 
he understood instantly that she stood at bay. 
To her, in spite of his sincere vehemence, in 
spite of his beauty, sense, and fitness, he was 


198 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


merely the representative of money. Had Temple 
Drake been present, with the same aggravation, 
and wearing a stiletto, he would have been stabbed, 
rolled into a corner, and defiantly stood over, till 
some one should come to threaten her with a 
punishment that would only make her laugh. But 
Virginia, pious and timid in character, although 
like her father indomitable in her passions, was 
not moved to desperation ; her thoughts weakly 
wandered hither and thither. How she despised 
the signs of wealth about her, — and none of it 
hers ! If she could but invent some plan that would 
make everything smooth and pleasant, and avoid 
the sacrifice her father expected ! She tried to 
recollect where her purse was, and whether there 
were fifteen or twenty dollars in it, and how she 
had spent the last sum received from him, when 
she was arrested by a sudden knocking, like that 
at the gate in Macbeth, on the hall door. Mr. 
Garfield looked at his watch, and remarked that it 
was nearly midnight. Sarah opened the parlor 
door, and, to his surprise, ushered in a man who 
wore an old camlet cloak, and a sealskin cap, the 
better for the weather, for the rain made it sleek 
and shiny. 

“ Argus ! ” cried Virginia, strength coming in 
the tumult which the sight of him gave her. 

And where is Sebastian? ” asked Mr. Garfield, 
in a voice intended for her only, but the quick ear 
of Argus caught the name. “ Sebastian,” he said, 
bowing, “ arrived several hours since. His arrival 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


199 


is the occasion of my being here. Where is Brande, 
Virginia ? I wish to see him.” 

“ Who is this sprightly Diogenes, so desirous of 
throwing his lantern upon your father ? ” whispered 
Mr. Garfield, rising and passing Virginia to ad- 
dress Argus. “ Sir,” he said, “ Mr. Brande has 
been in bed an hour or more. The rain, though 
it falls on the just and the unjust, can only reach 
him through you ; possibly you had better not take 
up your dampness at present. Any message you 
may choose to leave I will faithfully deliver in the 
morning.” 

“ Mr. Garfield, you do not understand,” said 
Virginia. “ Argus, give me your cloak. You 
know where to find father.” 

The qualities of my cloak are not understood,” 
said Argus ; “ it resembles the phenomenon natural- 
ists love to mention — a duck’s back ; my cap is 
more friendly to the elements.” And he shook 
the water from it. 

“ Your dress. Miss Brande, is in danger,” said 
Mr. Garfield. 

She made a dash and rustle with her crim- 
son silk, which signified no distaste of the 
danger. 

“ There was more water where you were a year 
ago to-night, Argus,” she said. 

Exactly, and much colder,” he replied. Gome, 
show me how to go. How should I know where 
your father piously slumbers ? ” 

She rose instantly, and led the way. On the 


200 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


stairs, Argus asked if that was the new partner he 
had just met. It was, she answered. 

“ He is a jackanapes.'’ 

Virginia touched his arm, and motioned him 
into the conservatory. 

“ Oh, Argus,” she cried, “ I am expected to 
marry him.” 

The unhappy girl was inspired with the wild 
belief that Argus had been sent to her by Provi- 
dence. How could so strange an event as his 
appearance at that hour be otherwise accounted 
for ? She must give herself to him — now, now ? 
He should stand between her and her father ; the 
time had come — by the convulsion of her heart, 
the powerful determination of her will — she knew 
it ! Argus grew very pale standing before her. 
He raised his hand, and broke a sprig from a plant 
that trailed from a hanging basket above them ; 
lightly drawing it across her lips he said, with a 
strange smile : 

“ He is a fine fellow, I know, — after your father’s 
heart. What other arrangement could be made? 
Its propriety is most evident. It is the best thing 
you can do, my girl ; you know it as well as I do. 
My opinion of your sense is not a false one, I am 
assured. If you do not agree with me now, it is 
because I am such an old fellow, and you are still 
capable of the youthful follies we shall both laugh 
at ten years from now.” 

He turned aside, as if he would have the subject 
ended. 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


201 


What are you here for ? ” she asked, wringing 
her hands. He crushed and rolled the leaves in 
his hand before he answered. 

To pay back money which I borrowed months 
ago of your father. I was an idiot, of course, to 
come up at this time of night ; but I could not 
think of sleep. You know 1 no longer drink brandy, 
having broken my bottle. Roxalana engaged 
Sebastian just now, and, thinking the air would be 
good for me, and freedom from debt better, I left 
for these parts. Sebastian knew me well enough 
to give me the means for making the visit here at 
once.” 

Voiceless, she indicated her father’s door, and 
he turned away, wishing himself on the way to the 
White Flat, rather than traversing Brande house, 
like the blockhead he was. Looking up at the hang- 
ing basket, with a wild smile, Virginia seized its ten- 
drils, and tore it down : she never forgot the bitter 
scent of the earthy roots and stalks as the plant 
fell over her hands. Confused and uncertain, she 
went slowly downstairs, where Mr. Garfield, with 
his elbows on the baluster, was watching for 
her. 

“ How primitive your ways are in this town ! 
He called you Virginia — that rusty person ! What 
is your opinion, — is he the style of man I can 
knock down for not knowing his place ? Or is he 
hedged about with your Methodistical divinity ? ” 

She brushed past him into the parlor, and walked 
up and down before the open door, keeping her 


202 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


eyes upon it. He followed her, and braced him- 
self against the wall. 

“ It may be worth your doing,” she said pres- 
ently without removing her eyes ; “ though if you 
should kill him, even, it would make no difference, 
so far as his existence is concerned with mine.” 

“ Ah, that being a fact. I’ll watch with you, and 
observe him more closely.” 

“They looked at each other now. His eyes 
were full of insolence and defiance, and she felt 
nerved to desperation. She looked so beautiful 
suddenly, as she returned his glance, so bright and 
strong, that he swore inwardly he would have her 
at all hazards ; her hatred could not mar the pleas- 
ure possession would give him. It was with a 
start, almost, that they heard the voice of Argus 
again. 

“ Apologize for me, Virginia,” he said, “ in case 
your father complains of my disturbing him.” 

She nodded, and stepped toward him, with an air 
of determination. 

“ And you,” addressing Mr. Garfield, “ I trust 
you will rally from the annoyance my unseasonable 
entrance gave you ; it was unpleasant, no doubt.” 

Mr. Garfield shrugged his shoulders, and Argus 
bowed politely, waved his hand to Virginia, and 
disappeared. Mr. Garfield went half-way through 
the hall, as if to assure himself that an obnoxious 
object was really removed. 

“ Damn you ! ” he thought, “ for the face you 
are taking with you, — too icy and unfeeling to 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


203 


combat with ; too knowing to insult with any hope 
of advantage. I have seen your like.” 

With a bitter jest on his tongue, he returned to 
find Virginia gone. She had taken the oppor- 
tunity, he concluded, to escape, and had, of course, 
gone to her own room. He did not feel composed 
enough to go to bed, and thrusting his hands in his 
pockets, he began to pace the floor. At each end 
of the rooms were tall mirrors which reflected his 
figure as he passed back and forth ; he stopped an 
instant at every turn, and examined himself criti- 
cally. The Carfields were all alike, he commented ; 
they were all famous, as he knew and had heard, 
for compassing their ends in business, and in 
pleasure. He resembled them, and was master of 
his brain and fibers ; the men and women neces- 
sary to his purposes should bend to him, as they 
had bent before to his race ! He was satisfied 
with his aspect, and, perhaps weary of the monot- 
ony of his view front and his view back, turned 
down the lights, — except one on the mantel-piece, 
poked the coal in the grate to a blaze, and 
stretched himself on the rug before it. 

Virginia, leaving the parlor by a door which led 
into the dining-room, passed the sleeping Sarah, 
who dreamed a crimson cloud flashed by her, and 
rushed from the house, coming upon Argus as he 
was opening the front gate. It slipped from his 
hand and closed again when he saw her flying 
figure. 

‘‘ Take me, Argus,” she gasped, her white arms 


204 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


gleaming before his eyes ; “ take me from my 
dreadful position, else I shall die. My soul is 
dying, oh, so fast, Argus, perishing, perishing, cold, 
starved." 

The shock of the rain on her bare head and 
shoulders which were only covered with lace, her 
rapid movement, or something besides, caused her 
to drop on the ground senseless, and the gate was 
between them. He tried to open it, but the iron 
latch had sprung in the catch, and it would not 
yield ; his impassive heart began to beat with ter- 
ror, and his strength was shaken. He was as 
defenceless and as much at the mercy of Virginia 
in a dead faint as an old tree is in a tempest when 
the lightning is sure to strike it. Had he followed 
the guide of his self-possessed moments he would 
have alarmed some one at the house, and then 
pursued his way home. But the moment was not 
self-possessed ; one had come to be ruled by the 
mysterious sentiment which men deny, deride, and 
obey ; Argus, in spite of his self-training, was 
about to appear an honorable, loyal man, worthy 
a woman’s possession. He stood motionless an 
instant. 

“Are the Furies at me?" he said ; “they have 
tracked me to the river, but why have they shut 
the gate? My strength against theirs then, and 
Brande’s iron." 

He wrenched off the fastenings of the gate, 
which fell back with a clang which Mr. Garfield 
heard, and started to his feet to listen with a mag- 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


205 


netic perception of an approaching person or event ; 
then he rolled his cloak round Virginia, took her 
in his arms, and carried her to the door, at which 
he knocked with his foot, supposing from the light 
he saw in the parlor still, that Mr. Garfield would 
open it. With her dead oppressive weight in his 
arms, there came a vision to his mind of his un- 
trammeled life at Temple House. Even its rains 
and gales were full of repose ! 

Mr. Garfield opened the door ; the sight of Vir- 
ginia muffled in the arms of Argus, enraged him. 

“ Stand back with your bundle," he said ; ** keep 
her out there. Who wants her now ? " 

He held the door, but Argus thrust him away 
and went past him. 

“ Don’t touch me just now," said Argus. “ Get 
some water, you yellow hound, and make no noise. 
Brande has said his evening prayers, and won’t 
bear disturbing ; he might get wet, too." 

He placed Virginia on a sofa, faint and trem- 
bling with the exertion he had made. Mr. Garfield 
trod closely behind, his hands in his pockets again, 
and with the determination to afford no assistance, 
and say nothing that was not insulting. But he 
fell into a deeper rage, and could not contain 
himself, when Argus confronted him, collected and 
masterful. 

She loves you," said Mr. Garfield, you ! 
QroA—you'* 

** I deny it," answered Argus ; “ it is the con- 
trary." He dropped on his knees beside her, and 


2o6 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


held her hands to his lips — Virginia dear, hear 
me ; open your eyes, love,” he whispered, utterly un- 
mindful of Garfield. 

I tell you, sir,” he said again, in a strangled 
voice, “ she said as much not an hour since.” 

“ Repeat that, and I will kill you,” and Argus 
rose, looked about him, and found a cologne water 
bottle — “ with this, it is big enough, unless you 
prefer a neater way.” Then pouring its contents 
on his handkerchief, he bathed her face and hands. 
The cloak fell from her, the lace over her bosom 
was displaced, and its marble outlines were re- 
vealed. Her face had fallen back, the beautiful 
scarlet lips were slightly apart ; no breath issued 
from them, apparently. All the pity in the soul 
of Argus was moved at so sweet, so helpless a 
sight ! But the lust which men may feel at the 
sight of supine beauty burst into Mr. Garfield’s 
veins, and flashed from his eyes, tinging their blue 
enamel with red sparks ; his nostrils sharpened, an 
indescribable sound came from his lips which drove 
Argus mad. He let fall the handkerchief, and 
sprang towards Mr. Garfield, who said loudly : 
“ I am inclined to think that, as her lover, you 
would like to brag. Gan you ? ” 

A few seconds intervened, and Argus discov- 
ered that he was turning the key of a door, Mr. 
Garfield having been put outside of it — for the 
present Argus was conqueror. 

“ I heard the river,” said Virginia, suddenly sit- 
ting up. 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


20 \ 


** Nonsense, dear,” replied Argus. “ You didn’t ; 
it was the rain you heard.’* 

“ How I have troubled you. Forgive me ; and I 
shall not obtain your forgiveness,” she said, hiding 
her face in his cloak. 

“ My love, you are making my cloak too valua- 
ble for an heirloom, even ; you will compel me to 
wear it perpetually.” He kneeled beside her again, 
and took her hand. “ My God, Virginia, what a 
beautiful woman you are ! Where were you all 
these years ? Spare me. I must rest ; do you 
understand that I am exhausted ? ” He was be- 
wildered — deadly pale, — and his lips quivered with 
each word. “ I confess myself lost ; if you have 
found me, take care of me. Get me some wine, 
my love, I can not stir. Sit by me awhile, and then 
rouse some of your people, to drive me home. By 
my soul, I never can walk.” 

Virginia, completely humbled, and now anxious 
to annihilate herself, if he desired it, brought him 
wine. She put the glass to his mouth, he trem- 
bled ; tears came into his iron eyes. She looked 
at them with the feeling a child has when an unex- 
pected, longed-for treasure comes into its posses- 
sion, and timidly kissed his eyelids. He returned 
the kiss — the first meeting of their lips put a strange 
seal upon them ; it was the boundary between the 
undefinable genius of his character, and the direct 
forces of her own. This was not the moment to 
learn the fact ; afterwards the understanding be- 
tween them was tacit, clear and full. 


2o8 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


Argus kissed her again. Her face crimsoned. 

“Where is Mr. Garfield ? ” she asked hastily. 

“ There was Paradise, and the Devil, and the 
flaming sword. I rather think the flaming sword 
may be out on the door-mat,” answered Argus, 
making a significant motion towards the hall. 

“ What happened ? ” 

“ He went out. Let the dog wait ; you will dine 
with him to-morrow.” 

“ Yes, and the next day,” she answered bitterly. 

“ Hush ! To-night is only tomight ; let me 
come nearer to you. So ; some better man should 
have the right to keep his lips here — not me, Argus, 
the — no matter. And you always liked Temple 
House ? ” 

“ Yes, Argus, and all of you. So Sebastian has 
returned ? ” 

“ What o’clock can it be, my girl ? Will that 
gimcrack on the mantel yonder tell ? ” 

“ It runs to-night fast enough, for it points to 
three. Don’t go.” 

“ I am not going. Unless I go, however, how 
can I come again } ” 

“ Will you come ? ” 

“ No, not yet. I’ll not meet Brande, and know 
that your heart palpitates between us. You will 
find me at Temple House, as in years past, in the 
green room, under the elms, out in the summer- 
house, maybe.” 

“ Not in the summer-house again.” 

“ Yes ; again, I say. It was fairer than this, on 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


209 


a night I recall, — an orange-colored dusk, as I re- 
member it. The darkness was illuminated. I sent 
you away in it, being dazed, and I see now that I 
have never recovered from the surprise you gave 
me. You were very sweet ; did I tell you so ? ” 

Argus, there’s cruelty in you.” 

And you love it. Presently it may be impos- 
sible for you to speak of hopes and desires. And 
Hereafter yawns so devilishly we cannot say what 
it may enclose ; and as women will practice suttee- 
ism, I ask you to show me the pile you have ready. 
Out with your speech, now.” 

He rose from his place beside her, and walked 
up and down before the sofa, making sudden and 
discomposing turns opposite it, and keeping his 
eyes away from her. 

All that might have been said was acted, 
Argus. I have thwarted my education at every 
point, and kept out of sight the moral and social 
principles instilled into my mind from childhood, 
for the sake of preserving the only genuine, happy 
emotion I ever felt. You have resisted my childish 
inclination, ignored my girlish affection, crushed, 
baffled, and repelled my womanly passion. Argus ! 
you are not great. You are a narrow, limited 
man ; you are not handsome. You have no youth 
— that dream which lingers with us, the ‘ song that 
is never sung,’ — through bitter years, lasting be- 
yond the fretwork and frostwork of wrinkles and 
gray hair, — perhaps you never had it. You are a 
poor man ; — so poverty-stricken by habit and taste 


210 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


that no fortune could change it. Those choosing 
to share your lot, can not venture the offer of 
changing it. You are like granite, which, acci^ 
dentally thrust upon the soil, or washed bare by the 
inroads of the sea, or even hammered and trans- 
ported, still remains a plain, hard rock. Yet I, 
believing that there was a core in your nature of 
molten fire which I might strike into, gave you all 
my hopes, with patience and desire. I am not 
capable of owning that I have failed. You would 
not come to me, nor allow me to go to you ; but I 
never gave up my love. My soul shall take up the 
thread of the unfinished web which it has so faith- 
fully woven here, to continue it wherever my soul 
goes.” 

The description of her feelings gave rise to a 
self-pity which made her appearance very touching. 
Something abstract came into her face also, which 
divested her of excitement, and made her statue- 
like. Argus was silent ; something made him wipe 
his face constantly. 

It is very late,” Virginia resumed. “ Shall 
I see now about your returning, and rouse 
Moses ? ” 

“ Thank you, if you please. I — I am but a man, 
as I said once before. If I dared, — I would ask 
you to marry me. I don’t dare.” 

“ Let us say no more now ; I will leave you. As 
soon as Moses is ready, he will call you. Good- 
by, Argus.” She extended her hand at arm’s 
length from him. 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


211 


^ ‘‘ Are you going to leave me this way ? ” he mut- 
tered. 

Good-by ; farewell.” 

He tried in vain to detain her, but could as easi- 
ly have grasped a rolling cloud as her suddenly re- 
treating, gliding figure. 

Moses left him at the gate of Temple House, 
and before he was half-way up the walk Sebastian 
met him. 

I slept in my chair for you, Argus. How you 
have prowled this night ! Roxalana said much, 
and then went to her little charge. I beliew;^ it to 
be your breakfast hour, nearly.” 

“ Come in, quick, the air is raw,” answered Ar- 
gus, springing up the steps. “ I hope it is as late 
as you say ; we are so much the nearer to dinner, 
that being the case. What do you say to a cigar ? 
On the whole, though, I'll not smoke. I'll go to 
bed. Where is my bed, I wonder ? Give me your 
hand, Sebastian.” 

They shook hands a long time. 

I hope the male saints know how glad I am to 
see you,” said Sebastian ; the female saints could 
never understand it.” 


CHAPTER XXV. 

T he white water-violet lifted its slender stem 
above the marshy sod of the pastures ; star- 
shaped tufts, spires of nameless weeds, spread along 


212 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


the margin of sunken brooks ; and red and purple 
stalky grass sprouted thinly over dry, sandy 
patches. The crows flew constantly between their 
nests in the woods of Apsley river, and the shores 
of the bay. Sebastian Ford gathered the violets, 
and watched the crows ; the fields were sodden 
and barren, the damp sea wind roared round him 
continually, and the weak sunshine, pouring 
through a dull, cold sky, shed a dismal light ; but 
the gathering of the flowers gave him a singular 
delight ; and the crows peopled the solitude for 
him. A human creature, walking by the water’s 
edge — as they did, with contemplative gravity, or 
grotesquely hopping in the fields — and joining 
other human creatures in a slow, noisy procession 
from one stone wall to another, would have de- 
stroyed the effect of the scene. Any flower besides 
the sweet violet, which, although trembling in the 
wind, and dashed with rain and fog, kept its colors 
full and fresh, and its delicious odor, he would have 
passed unheeded. He asked Argus what was the 
secret that made them so frail, yet so vigorous ; 
the crows so gay and solemn ; himself so happy, 
yet so expectant ? 

“ The truth is,” Argus replied, having worn 
out all traditionary romance, you are now trying to 
extract nourishment from some nameless ideality, 
and to interpret it by these facts. It is pretty much 
like a bear's sucking his own claws ; the roots of 
your present happiness are in yourself. The time 
will come, probably, for you to rush out of these 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


213 


recesses, — famished, savage ; and, like other men, 
demand your natural prey.” 

“ Though I search for nothing at present, neither 
within nor without, I recognize a power which may 
saturate my fibres, as a spring saturates the sand it 
hides under. You do not say that all thirst may 
not be slaked ? ” 

“ I am not thirsty ; and so I say nothing. I was 
merely thinking of your age, and how faithfully it 
reflects whatever is presented to it.” 

“ And what does yours reflect ? Argus, you are 
changed.” 

“ You are trying to make me a philosopher.” 

“ How goes the heart of a philosopher ? ” 

Sebastian laid his hand against the heart of Ar- 
gus, and softly kissed his cheek. 

It stands still,” said Argus. 

This is the rock I came ashore on ; perhaps it 
should remain immovable, for the performance of 
another great deed.” 

“ If my heart could be moved, surely it should be 
moved now, under your hand, Sebastian ; it has be- 
come an easy thing to feel an affection for you.” 

The strange contraction of Sebastian’s intense 
eyes suddenly became visible, and Argus felt 
searched in every nerve. 

Keep off your eyes, for God’s sake, from me,” 
he cried. I may have lost the old bearings ; if you 
choose to be speculative, rascal, I must, too.” 

But Sebastian was not satisfied with the impres- 
sion he now received from Argus. Did he suffer 


214 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


from that inevitable ennui which alike visits soli- 
tude and society, enters the fairest structures of 
the soul, and dwells with their wreck ? Were the 
limited, rigid, self-denying practices of the reso- 
lute Argus corrosive ? Did he recall the beati- 
tudes of the senses which young men play fast and 
loose with, and old men consider a despairing 
dream or but the ripples which rise, break, and 
disappear on the surface of that ocean of the soul, 
whose depths no mortal ever stirs ? Was it the in- 
describable sadness which accepts life and im- 
mortality, “ and all I was, in ashes ” ? Or some- 
thing less, — poverty, fretting obligation ? He pon- 
dered long over the subject, and then endeavored to 
bring about a change which should relieve Argus. 

Give me half of Temple House,” he begged, 
“ and share your money with me.” 

“You are to be trusted with neither. I should 
soon hear the walls opening, after the manner of your 
Spanish earthquakes, and my money would vanish 
in your little Spanish games.” 

“ I have nothing Spanish about me now — my 
games are all played. I have no other country 
than the spot you gave me, and absolutely no other 
tie outside of it.” 

“ So much the better for you. Avoid ties.” 

“ I have a little money over there still.” 

“ Well.” 

“ And I would like to have it over here.” 

“ Is it in bags ? Come, Sebastian, what are 
you at ? ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


215 


The statement of Sebastian’s wishes and explana- 
tions finally induced Argus to leave his employment 
in Kent, and resume his idle habits. The liberty of 
the elms at sunrise or sunset was his once more ; 
the old comedies came out from their retreat, and 
his tongue regained its ancient bitterness, — which 
gave Mat Sutcliffe the conclusion that all was as it 
should be with the Capen. Mary Sutcliffe, taking 
the advantage of meal time one day, made a repre- 
sentation to Mat of the “ goings on ” at Temple 
House ; and although inartistic, she was quite 
able to seize Sebastian’s individuality and describe 
his influence. 

** Your Mr. Ford,” she said, ** is a vagabones. 
His dark blood is thick for work, but thin for 
deviltry. The sea turned him into the Gates 
family, and he could, if he willed to do so, turn 
the Gates family into the sea. As for that ship 
being his, — it wasn’t, — the cargo wasn’t. What was 
the cargo, I should like to know ? Rum ? Slaves ? 
Opium ? But the sea did not swallow all, — it left 
something which he carried in his face ; better for 
some folks if it had swallowed it. I tell you he 
can wind women round his little finger ; he draws 
them out of themselves with his narrow eyes that 
cut like a knife. I feel ’em when he looks at 
me, at the back of my head ; it seems as if I must 
part his eyebrows and look into them for what he 
knows is a treasure. Up at the house, it is go 
here, and go there, as polite as pie. “ Chloe, 
where is my flower-glass ? ” “ Roxalana, sit here.” 


2i6 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


“ Tempe, will you have a chair ? ” ** Argus, here, 
oh, Argus, do ! ” Now, who is your Mr. Ford, 
that he should drum the Gates family up and down 
with his tongue ? I say he’ll turn out to be the wuss 
kind of a vagabones.” 

‘‘Georgey likes him,” replied Mat seriously. 

“ And Argus ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ And Roxalana ? ” 

Yes.” 

‘‘ And Chloe ? ” 

« Yes.” 

“ And how about Tempe ? ” 

She doesn't like him.” 

“ I say she does.” 

** I say she does not.” And Mat struck his plate 
smartly with his knife, jumped to his feet, planted 
his hands on the table, and eyed Mary angrily. 
She poured herself a cup of tea from a battered 
teapot at her elbow, with an affectation of calmness. 

“ You know she couldn’t like a swarthy for- 
eigner,” he continued. “ It’s impossible. She 
sha’n’t.” 

“ Cat’s foot ! he ain’t a foreigner, he is a man, — 
and as handsome as ever he can live ; handsomest 
creature I ever laid eyes on ; beats that English 
buster, Garfield, up at the Forge, and going to 
marry Virginia Brande, to rags ; beats everybody 
in wits. Roxalana Gates will crawl on her hands 
and knees for him ; Capen Gates would sell his 
soul and body for him ; Tempe would lie her eyes 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


217 


out, and cheat the devil to catch him. And you, 
I couldn’t say what you wouldn’t demean yourself 
in, to please that ugly, dark, cross-looking gypsy.” 

*■*' Slack, or I’ll choke you. It is through his 
means that the Capen can do as he likes now ; 
that reg’lar work used him up nigh. Gates is web- 
footed, he can only paddle ashore ; he ain’t fit for 
business, and you know it ; that’s the reason he’s 
a miser, you fool. Maybe, — but I haven’t thought 
of it before, — that’s the reason he won’t — but 
things are going on right up at the house, and 
you’d better keep a civil tongue in your head.” 

‘‘If you’ve settled it,” continued Mary, “I hope 
you’ll sit down again, and go on with your beef and 
pork. Lord knows it was long enough biling.” 

“ If it fails to go down it won’t be for want of 
sarse. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Moll; 
you are going on for fifty, and yet you keep being 
a damned tartar.” 

“ I am three years younger than you are.” 

“ ’Pears to me now, I had no excuse at all for 
taking you alongside ; I didn’t put in for wrinkles, 
or a red nose, or a bald spot on the top of your 
head.” 

Mary’s fortitude gave way and she began to cry 
and bite her apron. 

“ Go to your Fords,” she said, “ and your Geor- 
geys, and stay. I can’t get a stick of wood chopped, 
nor a handful of shavings brought in to kindle my 
fire with, by you. I might as well call on the town 
now as any time.” 


2i8 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


There, there, — it’s all right, dry up ; ain’t I 
coming home to supper ? This ere beef is first-rate. 
I’ll tell you something. Mr. Ford has offered me 
wages to keep the garden, and I think he wants me 
to contrive to do the Capen’s errands, and be a 
kind of a right-hand man for Mrs. Roxalana, in 
matters she has had to do with respecting odds and 
ends, you know.” 

“ I always knew that Mr. Ford would do what 
was right. How much did he offer ? ” 

“ I’ll let you know when I come back. Don’t 
say that again about the gal, — will you ? — Tempe ? ” 
I did not mean it.” 

“ I knew you were in fun.” 

But after he had gone, she said to herself, “ Only 
I did mean it. That man will marry Tempe. The 
weight of Roxalana Gates’s will is enough for that ; 
I know her slow brass. Sho, they are lumps of 
putty in her hands. Down she goes on her hams, 
and every soul of them gets crooked in the knee. 
Smooth as pie-crust, sluggish as an eel in the mud, 
but sensible as death — she knows what she is about. 
There comes Sally Bayley with a bowl in one hand 
to borrow something, and my dishes are not 
washed.” 

Virginia also learned Sebastian’s influence. Since 
her interview with Argus she had given up her 
familiar visits to Temple House, and went no more 
by the path from the Forge. She now came 
through the town, in her carriage generally, and in 
full dress, as if she were on a round of formal calls, 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


219 


which included the Gates family. Arriving late one 
afternoon on foot, with card-case, lace parasol, and 
enveloped in a cashmere shawl, she dropped into a 
chair with an expression in her face which Roxalana 
liked. 

“ I am tired out, Roxalana,” she exclaimed. I 
am sick of Mrs. Ring and Wing, and King. Their 
front doors and tongues are alike; their religion, 
flounces, and card-baskets are the same ; their 
scandal list and subscription list run neck and neck. 
Tell me something different. Oh, how nice you 
are, Roxalana ! pleasant old gown, and careless, 
twisted hair, how I love you.” 

“ Do stay, Virginia ; I have not seen you for 
weeks. It is pleasant when you are here. Chloe 
has brought me snatches and fragements of you, 
and that is all I get. I feel as if an inquiry re- 
specting the Forge now would be an intrusion. I 
should be very glad to have you speak of your 
affairs at home, should you choose to do so*” 

“ Lowly, shabby, cigar-flavored room,” said Vir- 
ginia, “ how delightful you are ! cracked panes, 
sunken hearthstone, mappy ceiling, you are deli- 
cious ! Where did the flower-glass come from ? A 
wild-flower in it, — who brings them here ? ” 
Sebastian.” 

No ; I cannot stay, it is impossible.” 

She tossed her card-case and parasol upon the 
table, however, and unfastened her shawl. 

“ What a beautiful shawl ! ” said Roxalana, pinch- 
ing its texture. 


220 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


I wish you would take it for a rug ; I see yours 
on the hearth is full of holes.” 

Roxalana laughed, and put out her foot to des- 
ignate the newest one, and Virginia saw that her 
shoes had holes also. 

“ Let us put our feet on the shawl this minute, 
Roxalana.” And Virginia threw it on the floor, 
and trampled it. 

What a beautiful dress,” said Roxalana. “ I 
am fond of this soft, heavy black silk, and I pre- 
fer velvet trimming too.” 

“ Does my dress please you, dear ? ” 

“ It is an agreeable change for my eyes. You 
know we are not strong on finery in any respect.” 

Where is Mr. Ford ? I have not met him since 
his return.” 

“ I am surprised. He is on his usual ramble. 
Why, — when did you see Argus last ? ” 

** The very night of his return, — Mr. Ford, I 
mean — to Temple House.” 

Where was he ? ” 

“ At our house; he came to see father.” 

Argus is an inscrutable man ; I do not approve 
of him at all. Did you see him ? ” 

Virginia clasped her hands nervously, but looked 
steadily at Roxalana and answered, “ I saw him 
at night.” 

The dark red fire slowly kindled in Roxalana’s 
cheek. 

Where is that man ? ” she said rolling her eyes ; 
** I want him. Who knew that you saw him ? ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


221 


« Mr. Garfield.” 

“ Was he present throughout the interview ? ” 

I am sure that Argus put him out of the parlor : 
but I do not know.” 

Roxalana then gave one of her shaking, short 
laughs, which made Virginia smile in spite of her 
agitation. 

It is certain he fought for you, Virginia ; but 
why don’t you know what he did ? ” 

“Because, Roxalana, I had thrown myself at the 
feet of Argus, and fell as senseless a heap as this 
shawl is. I did so in the hope of escaping from 
Mr. Garfield. I am a slave, Roxalana, and have the 
blood and spirit of a slave. I can not, dare not, 
follow even the imperious dictates of my wishes. 
No ; for all I was desperate enought to toss my 
heart to Argus, it was for defense. I am afraid of 
my father. What shall I do ? ” 

“ Take off your gloves,” said Roxalana, in a 
stern voice, “ and spend the remainder of the after- 
noon with me. The time has passed, certainly, 
for fathers to compel their childen into unwilling 
marriages.” 

“ But my own principles interfere with my wishes. 
I can not help believing just as he believes about 
their direction. How can I disunite myself from 
his well-knit, reasonable plans ? ” 

“ I do not see what a profound love has to do 
with principle, or reason. If love was not a sepa- 
rate power, impregnable to conscience, human na- 
ture would be a feebly sustained thing. It should 


222 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


exist for itself, and by itself, and then, through it, we 
poor creatures may be exalted in spite of vice and 
crime. Don’t you think so ? Would you like to live 
for Argus ? " 

“ Roxalana, you are the last person to aid me in 
my way, my father’s way, I mean. Let me go now, 
happy at least in having seen you.” 

“ Would you like to live for Argus ? ” 

“ Live for him ! Do I not ? Must I speak to you, 
also, of the secret which makes me infinite ? The 
remembrance of his embrace, and the hope of it, 
give immortality to my past and future. My inte- 
rior life rises and rolls like a flood over the thick and 
purposeless darkness of my outward life. This inte- 
rior life consists of love for Argus ; my real being is 
there, Roxalana. Its tissues vibrate and sparkle 
under its sway, as running water under a moonlight 
sky. I acknowledge it strange, but I believe that in 
me Love has completed his divine circle. Argus 
belongs to my happiness, — in soul and body. To 
live with him would be to renounce terrors, pain, 
the evil of my odious and enforced existence. It 
would prove so seductive and binding an alliance, 
which though conscience might vaguely accuse me 
of falling into the depths of a great temptation, I 
should never beseech God to deliver me from it. 
You have known this, Roxalana, have you not, my 
sister? ” 

Roxalana fell back on the density which always 
aided her when people passed beyond her limits. 
Faithful as she was to her ideal of love, but in- 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


223 


capable of approaching the meaning of Virginia’s 
passion, she wandered at once from the intensity 
of the scene, with a happy sense which made her 
so invaluable a relief to those attached to her. 

/ couldn’t leave him, you may be quite sure,” 
she said ; life would be valueless, if absent from 
him. I do not in many respects approve 
of him. He has cold, hard manners, but he is 
sincere and proud ; these traits have made his 
habits simple ; simple habits, if practiced a long 
time, will have a good effect upon the character. 
Our life is meager enough, as you have doubtless 
observed. For years we have had to manage on 
small means ; made to be acquainted with all sorts 
of economies. Could you endure the change ? 
Would you not grow sick of ‘ pleasant old gowns,* 
if you were compelled to wear them ? ” 

It struck Virginia she would not look as well in 
them as Roxalana did ; and a sad feeling stole 
over her at the thought of the impossibility of ever 
making herself a harmonious portion of Temple 
House. 

I would not invade your premises unless I 
came to learn of you,” she answered. “ As I have 
have learned so much on compulsion, it would not 
be difficult to learn a little more.” 

I think I would not like to have you come with 
money ; it might unsettle us terribly. I am sure 
Argus dislikes the cares of property. Sebastian 
has none, or very little, — enough barely to cover 
his small expenses with us, and it makes his being 


224 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


here appear so much the more an admirable ar- 
rangement. You are aware how entirely he suits 
Argus.” 

“ Argus came to our house to pay back borrowed 
money.” 

Did he? I knew nothing of it.” 

It was borrowed for Mr. Ford’s use, I know ; 
he never would have borrowed it for his own.” 

Yet you must recollect that Argus had business 
transactions with your father years ago.” 

“ He put his hand on my head once, when I was 
a little girl, and looking up I saw his face for the 
first time ; I liked him then. And now I will go.” 

She began drawing on her gloves leisurely. 
Roxalana stepped to the door and called in Chloe. 

Your missey will stay till evening, provided I 
send you home with her. I am greatly inclined to 
have her see us at our tea-table. Look up Tempe, 
Chloe, and I will bring down Georgey. You must 
have a sight of my boy, Virginia ; he is the most 
intelligent child you ever saw, — wise beyond his 
months, and more beautiful than any picture.” 

If I must stay, I must,” replied Virginia. 

There is no help for you, Chloe ; to tell the truth 
I am glad to have my scruples overcome.” 

“ The gentlemen will be expecting you back, 
missey,” said Chloe, shaking Virginia’s shawl, and 
folding it. “ Spec’ the Forge fires will die down 
dead, and Mr. Brande will take hisself to his bed, 
Mr. Carfield will betake hisself to all out-doors if 
you don’t show yourself behind our china tea-cups 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


225 


at seven o’clock precisely. ’Pears to me I am 
agoing to walk home with you, and so slow to- 
night ; and that after I get there I shall play In- 
dian. Mis’ Gates, have you seen any Indian in 
me for ever so long ? Haven’t I been regular in 
life’s warfare } ” 

“ Your conduct is acceptable, Chloe,” said Roxa- 
lana. Perhaps you had better pass the night at 
Mr. Brande’s.” 

Do you know that I never go and come by the 
path now ? ” asked Virginia. 

Missey, you are welcome to any whim you can 
indulge yourself with. The Lord knows your 
chances are few enough.” 

Virginia, seated at the table soon after, slowly 
drinking tea from the old frail china, tasting Roxa- 
lana’s most famous sweetmeats, drifted entirely 
from the Brande world, and wafted like a feather 
through the currents of the atmosphere, filling her 
with a serene pleasure. 

Her voice and manner, confiding, winning, sub- 
missive, struck even Tempe and Chloe ; the noble 
movement of her head, the lustrous eyes, full, 
eager lips, her beautiful jeweled hands, and the 
exquisite art of her somber dress, recalled to Sebas- 
tian memories of far different days. So with Argus. 
The cool, colorless cloud of isolation so long enfold- 
ing him parted and drifted away ; for the present 
he did not resist a subtle arrogance which the 
knowledge of Virginia’s love gave him. When his 
domineering eyes and speech flashed out, Sebastian 


226 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


was reminded of the revolving lights on the lonely 
northern coast. What made the solitary Argus so 
brilliant ? " 

Roxalana’s quiet, solid spirit enjoyed the occa- 
sion to the full. In her estimation it was a reason- 
able one ; it could have no reaction, no extra 
candles were burning, there was no waste in 
the teapot. She ate little — for that was her habit — 
sat almost silent her face was dark and heavy as 
at all times, her voice slowly drawling ; yet she was 
a forcible presence and an acceptable one. 

“ Is this like the old time, Virginia,” inquired 
Tempe, “ when you were in the way of running 
down from the Forge alone ? It is not to me.” 

“ It is different,” Virginia replied. 

Chloe caught the glance, as it passed between 
Argus and Virginia, which revealed their secret. 
She instantly, though offering cake, made a mental 
prayer, entreating God not to prevent the match ; 
for there was conversion and money in it for Argus, 
peace, freedom and indulgence for Virginia. She 
also prayed that Mr. Garfield might be removed. 

Miss Brande,” said Sebastian, “ I like to collect 
your cold, lonely wild flowers, they surprise me ! 
Where may I not, in this strange soil, find the 
most beautiful blossom ? I recall a poet who said : 
‘ The love which speaks, sings, wails in one part 
of creation, reveals itself in the other half under 
the form of flowers.’ The counterpart of these 
pale, perfect, frail flowers — what can it be ? ” 

A brilliant color flew into Tempo’s face, and she 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


227 


exclaimed, “ The flowers you bring home, Sebas- 
tian, last a few weeks only, and then even their 
stalks and leaves die down to the ground.” 

“ It is only a common love they designate after 
all, you see,” said Argus. Are you developing a 
botanical taste, Tempe ? ” 

“ I despise flowers, and those who love them,” 
she answered. 

“Tempe,” said Roxalana, “why do you choose 
to be contrary just at this moment, on the infre- 
quent occasion of Virginia’s visit ? You like my 
tulips very well.” 

“ The sight of them makes me sick.” 

“ She is a little cactus,” Sebastian said, in a low 
tone, to Virginia. 

“ Our conservatory is in beautiful order, Tempe,” 
said Virginia, with a smile to Sebastian ; “ I am 
sure you would like those queer foreign plants.” 

“ I like little that is foreign, — neither cactus, 
nor aloes, nor pine-apples, centipedes, scorpions, 
parrots.” 

“ I shall yet fetch you a pink cockatoo, prettier 
than yourself. Miss Tempe,” said Sebastian. 

“ And Chloe must fetch me from this,” said Vir- 
ginia, looking at her watch, “since you decree, 
Roxalana, that I am to be escorted.” 

“ I think,” said Argus quietly, “ I heard your 
carriage at the gate just now.” 

Roxalana looked sternly at Virginia, and said, 
“ If that Mr. Garfield has come for you, as I pre- 
sume he has, in his capacity as your jailor, I hope 


228 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


he will break his neck in coming up the steps. 
Argus, if I were you — ” 

Don’t Argus me,” interrupted Argus roughly, 
‘‘ Moses is walking up the path. Mr. Garfield will 
not enter our doors.” 

But he was mistaken. Chloe let in Mr. Garfield, 
with a crush hat in one hand, and a twisted 
glove in the other ; he was perfectly unconcerned, 
his lips were parted by a gay smile as he 
made a low bow to Roxalana, who, returning it, 
•immediately folded her hands rigidly, and 
stared at him. His glance caught up the counte- 
nances of every person present ; in the face of 
Argus he read an entire understanding of the inso- 
lence which had brought him hither. Virginia 
mechanically introduced him, and made a hasty 
sign to Tempe, who refused to recognize it. 

“ It became cloudy suddenly. Miss Brande,” 
said Mr. Garfield, ‘‘and your father mentioning 
your dress as unfit to encounter a shower, thought 
best to send for you. I drove over in the wagon, 
accordingly.” 

“ Thank you,” she replied ; “ I did not dream of 
a storm, it has been so bright and pleasant here.” 

“ I imagined it,” he returned. “ Mrs. Gates is 
the soul of hospitality, I have been told. Temple 
House is a refuge, — catholic, tranquil, refined.” 

“ You are right, sir,” Sebastian remarked. 
“ What happy circumstance gave you this penetra- 
tion, since, unlike myself, you were not allowed to 
reach this haven ? ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


229 


“ Your accuracy is remarkable, sir,” added Rox- 
alana. 

“ There will be no storm, Virginia,” interrup|;ed 
Argus, who had been at the window to scan the 
sky ; “ if you prefer walking home, I will go with 
you.” 

“ Can not I go also ? ” asked Sebastian. 

Virginia, who stood shawled and gloved, with 
her eyes on the floor, hesitated ; the idea of the 
way between Temple House and the Forge 
attended by the three men was an oppressive one. 
She dreaded, also, lest a second devastation scene 
should occur with Argus and Mr. Garfield, if the 
same chance was offered them. Argus was weaker 
now, she knew, — his heart was open to her, and 
Mr. Garfield was a devil. Yet the idea of the two- 
mile drive with him, in the dark, behind his rush- 
ing black stallion, between whom and himself was 
a feud of kicks, snorts, curses and blows, was still 
worse. There was an instant of silence ; Tempe 
glided round the table, and under the pretense of 
pulling out Virginia’s bonnet strings, whispered : 

“ I would not go with you, for you wanted to 
make me a cat’s paw ; I understand. I won’t 
make speeches to your beau for the sake of having 
you keep your mouth shut. And now Sebastian 
wants to be a cat’s paw. Pretty doings, I should 
think.” 

Tempe, you weary me,” Virginia whispered 
harshly. ** Heaven help me, you think there are 
no limits to my patience.” 


230 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


Tempe, with a shrug, turned from her and met 
Mr. Garfield’s eyes ; an electricity passed from one 
to the other, and revealed an evil affinity. He saw 
that her sharp, passionate, ethereal face was suited 
to the tortures which self-will, hatred, and suspicion 
can inflict ; and she felt by intuition that he pos- 
sessed the force given by such traits, and that it 
could be excited without scruple. 

“ Did you drive Black Tom down ?” asked Vir- 
ginia suddenly, looking up at Mr. Garfield. “You 
know how much I am afraid of him.” 

He replied that he came with another horse, 
though at that time Black Tom was knocking his 
jaws against the stone underpinning of the gully 
wall, and lolling his tongue with the pain of his bit. 
Without a word Virginia kissed Roxalana and 
swept out of the room ; Mr. Garfield, waving his 
glove by way of a parting salute, stepped quickly 
after her, and was followed by Argus and Sebastian. 
They found Ghloe down by the gate with a lantern. 
She held it over the palings as Virginia descended 
the steps, who saw by its light that Mr. Garfield 
had lied to her ; he was untying Black Tom’s rein 
from the ring in the wall. There was no retreat ; 
she must go with him now, and turning to Argus, 
she thrust him back, and said : 

“ Don’t come any further, Argus ; good-night.” 

He caught her hand, kissed it, and let her go ; 
Sebastian, catching a glimpse of the act, hastily 
swung over the palings beside Ghloe. 

“ Why, damn this gentleman ! ” he said coolly ; 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


231 


“ it strikes me that this is the Black Tom she is 
afraid of.” 

Virginia, already in the wagon, raised her face 
at the sound of his voice, and her sad, sweet, pale 
vision, framed in the darkness, plunging through it, 
out of sight, to the thundering sound of the madly 
beating iron feet, made his brain dizzy, his heart 
throb, then the waves surged over him again, — 
singing, sparkling, multitudinous, boundless ! 

“ Roll over me,” he muttered ; “ leave me dead, 
or free forever. To die, and come to life in con- 
vulsion ; to open weary eyes in the blaze and tri- 
umph of other eyes ; speak extorted words, lips to 
lips ; to drag, lift, wing my soul through a maze 
whose winding ways but return to their mysterious 
beginning, and start again soul by soul — no ! ” 

“ Have marcy,” said Chloe, rattling her lantern ; 
“/knew it. If I hadn’t been afraid, while you 
were all bowing and scraping inside, I’d ha’ poured 
scalding water down on that horse ; I could ha’ 
done it ; the kettle was full, hissing on the fire ; but 
I should have been turned out of meeting. I 
should never hear the last of it from Mr. Brande ; 
with his handkerchief he’d ha’ waved me into per- 
dition ; and so I said, ‘ Go away, Indian, come 
again, Christian,’ lighted my lantern, and walked 
down here 'spectable.” 

“ You are all afraid here, Chloe, — except Roxa- 
lana, — she is a great soul, living largely in little 
things,” Sebastian remarked. 

“ When we want to commit a deadly sin, the most 


232 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


of us ain't a mite afraid ; but in the ‘ how-are-yous/ 
and ‘ do come agains/ we are scared.” 

They heard Argus scratching a match on the 
steps. 

“ No matter whether he sees his way into the 
house or not,” she said angrily. 

“ Certainly not. Go in yourself ; I shall stay 
out and smoke. The moon is rising.” 

As she disappeared up the path, Argus came up 
the steps and offered Sebastian a cigar. 

“ I thought so,” he remarked. 

Sebastian politely accepted the cigar, smoked 
said nothing, and fixed his eyes on the moon toss- 
ing up the crest of King’s Hill, in a mass of pearly 
spume, and throwing a spectral light against the 
house and lawn. 

‘‘ I thought so, from his lying face,” continued 
Argus. “ It did not surprise me to see the brute 
he loves to drive and beat.” 

‘‘Indeed ! ” said Sebastian at last, with an effort 
to obtain a better view of the moon, which averted 
his head from Argus. “ And you did not break 
the jaws of the two beasts ? ” 

Argus chuckled, swore, drew a fiery star at the 
end of his cigar, threw it over the fence, and said ; 

“ Are you cold, Sebastian ? ” 

“ On the contrary.” 

“ On fire, then ? ” 

“ Is not the first touch of ice like fire ? ” 

“ I shall tell you something. Can you stay out 
in the air till I have done ? I would have you.” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


233 


Very well, Argus, go on.” 

Argus related his experience with Mr. Garfield, 
and in spite of himself betrayed the part Virginia 
played in their interview at Brande’s house. The 
moon, swelling over the crowding vapor, hung in 
the clear sky above their heads, and illuminated the 
spot where the dark figures with their pale faces 
stood. To Sebastian’s mind it appeared an illumi- 
nation cold, distant, showing him Virginia’s form 
wrapped in the camlet cloak as Argus described her. 

“ You and the Englishman are rivals then,” he 
asked. 

“ No.” 

“ How shall I understand you ? ” 

“ The devil ! what do you wish to understand ? 
Have I not explained the reason of my not falling 
upon Garfield. I do not fancy the business of 
avenger.” 

“ Take care ; love for an imbroglio is in my 
blood. The terrible bath in your bay, which I hear 
now shivering like a hound, did not wash it out. 
Argus, do you love that girl ? Why not ? ” 

“ Pooh, what are you talking about ? Do you 
see love in me ? Gome, we have been here long 
enough.” 

“ And she flew to you to escape that man, flew 
to you for protection ? ” 

“ Yes,” answered Argus savagely. “ But did 
you not see her happy to-night ? Oh, she belongs 
in her place, and I in mine.” 

“ She is beautiful.” 


234 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


** Do you think so ? ” 

“ I have a mind to stroll along the shore ; will 
you come, Argus, with another cigar ? ” 

“ No, Sebastian, I never go now where the hori- 
zon extends itself. The bay looks well to-night, 
by the position of the moon, limitless to the south. 
You will like it. I’ll turn into my chamber.” 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

T he months which followed this evening seemed 
to hang over the heads of Argus and Sebas- 
tian changeless, like the light of the midnight sun. 
For the most part, in passing, existence is badly 
constructed ; people find it impossible to make 
their life-drama a unity. Jove does not thunder at 
the right moment ; the chorus have fallen asleep ; 
the toga has not come from the tailor’s ; the train 
was delayed at Pottsville. The mind has no 
power over to-day. It may reflect upon the past, 
and watch the future, but it can not see nor under- 
stand the combinations of the present ; how one 
event opposes another ; how one holds the rest in 
solution ; how they all fail to bring about the 
result which the one in its hopes, or in its de- 
spairs, waits for. There is no intervention be- 
tween the passions of men and Olympus, in the 
Greek tragedy ; its tormenting flame ascends to 
the deities who can not control its devastation ; 
they may hear and see with the ears and eyes of 
gods, but they are helpless in the presence of 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


235 


those emotions whose being is in the senses, and is 
as powerful as themselves. In our time the trag- 
edy is as mournful, but different ; it is dull, com- 
plex, prolonged ; it is environed by moral necessi- 
ties, and the analysis of opinion ; it is apt to exist 
without beauty or dignity, but it still exists, for 
tragedy is an immortal heritage. 

More than a year, with the memories of the days 
to be observed, as the causes of an inroad upon 
the peaceful life of Argus, passed : the hours of 
little Georgey swiftly traversed this neutral ground, 
and he entered upon his second year. His sum- 
mer birthday was brilliant, and chirping like him- 
self. The lazy sea was more quiet than the tanned 
waste of fields beyond Temple House, where hosts 
of crickets and strong-winged grasshoppers crawled 
and flew, and sang day and night. The sun, 
hot in the bare blue sky, tinged the sandy shore 
with yellow hues, burnt the mats of seaweed to an 
ugly black, and stained the vines and shrubs along 
the walls in red and umber. It blazed upon 
Apsley River, now pale and shallow, receding day 
by day, and fell in a solid mass of blinding bright- 
ness on the tree-like shrubs along its borders ; — 
shrubs, covered with balls, and spiral blossoms, — 
brown, amber, and white, stuffed with clusters of 
berries, bitter, milky, acrid, colored purple, red, 
and green. It scorched the roofs and pavements 
in the town, and suppressed the hum of business ; 
people sat in darkened rooms, and mopped their 
foreheads, and fanned themselves with great palm- 


236 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


leaf fans. On that day, Roxalana, in a flowered 
silk shawl and antiquated bonnet, went into town 
to make a purchase. A faint opposition rose from 
Tempe and Chloe when it came home, for it was a 
high chair of basket-work in which she intended to 
install Georgey, and keep him beside her at meal 
time. Argus whistled slightly when he saw him 
perched up at the table in a quaint white frock, 
and his dead-gold hair clinging in rings round his 
head ; but Sebastian, telling Roxalana that he per- 
ceived she had had one of her inspirations, took 
him chair and all, and carried him to the place 
next his own, for he loved the child. The agita- 
tions whose approach he had begun to feel and 
dread, had been shut out by the love which had 
so unexpectedly come to him; — “the love which 
reveals itself in flowers,” of which he had spoken 
to Virginia, blossomed from the soul of the lovely 
child, and spread like a vine over the surface of 
his nature, — that nature so simple, sweet and 
patient, yet sometimes so lost in ungovernable 
depths, sometimes so fallen, exhausted, apathetic. 

Georgey’s first word was Bastian. 

“I am blarsted,” said Mat Sutcliffe to Roxalana, 
when he first observed the frolicsome, exacting, 
tender intimacy between Sebastian and the child, 
“ if my Moll isn’t about right in regard to this ere 
Ford. Actilly my little G. Gates loves him, and 
gives me the go-by altogether.” 

“ Why Mat,” she replied apologetically, “Sebas- 
tian’s being here all the time, while you are here 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


237 


only at night and morning, accounts for it. You 
may depend, though, that we shall all have enough 
to do to manage that peculiar child.” 

It will be a different day from this when I see 
a member of the Gates family managed ; 'tain't in 
’em to be managed. As for his peculiarity, 1 don't 
agree with you ; he is the most reasonable creetur 
in the world ; he likes to go the way folks don’t 
want him to go in.” 

Roxalana laughed, for at that moment they heard 
Georgey crying out on the lawn against Sebastian’s 
opposition to having grass put into his mouth and 
ears. 

Tempe’s strange indifference towards her child 
continued, though since he and Sebastian made 
themselves so busy together in playing, and talk- 
ing in that jargon which is bestowed upon those 
who love children by their good fairies, she had 
followed him from place to place, and watched 
them. Her strange behavior finally hurt Sebas- 
tian, and he spoke of it to Argus. 

‘‘ Have you no faith in the maternal passion ? ” 
he asked. 

think I met with it in the jungle, and not 
since,” Argus answered. 

I never saw Tempe kiss her boy.” 

Argus shrugged his shoulders. “7 never saw 
her kiss anybody.” 

When I was young,” said Sebastian, ripples of 
light breaking into his eyes, “ my mother loved me. 
God knows that she could never make me forget 


238 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


it, though afterwards, rather than the enfolding of 
her arms, I would have had a serpent's coil round 
my heart." 

“ Why, Sebastian, you are coming out with obitu- 
aries. Better let the brambles and weeds grow 
over your monuments, and hide them." 

“ No, no, I will remember my mother, in my love 
for Georgey. His maternal memory will be — 
Roxalana." 

“ You do not mean to blame the poor woman, of 
course. She has a great love for the child ; and, 
to refer to monuments again, her memory asso- 
ciates him with her husband, my brother George, 
who was a scamp." 

“ And where was Tempe’s husband when the 
child was named ? dead in fact, I know — but where 
in feeling ? " 

“If her affair with that boy, Drake, which lasted 
a few weeks only, lasted long enough to impress 
upon her the character of a widow, she deserves 
great credit for being a heartless hussey." 

“ Your women are all strange." 

“ They are as like to the women you have known 
as pea-pods are ; possibly the peas inside may be a 
little less or more full, but, given the same circum- 
stances, you have the same female. Stick to your 
affection for Georgey ; adopt him, for I feel little 
interest in him. I don’t like the blood on either 
side." 

Poor Georgey ! Even at that time there were 
signs of failure in his face ; Sebastian was the first 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


239 


to observe them. They struck him a coward ; he 
felt like making a desperate, selfish effort to escape 
from the calamity which he believed must fall. 
He watched all who came in contact with Georgey 
for a corroboration, and a denial of his fears. 
Would that he could carry him to the gates of 
heaven and leave him with all his beauty, to enter 
without a trace of suffering ! 

The time soon arrived when the days and nights 
were as one to Georgey ; when his hot, tremulous 
hands remained where they were placed ; when 
his marble feet were inert ; and those who were 
with him could not say whether a smile or a pang 
drew his lips apart. And Roxalana had not spoken 
a word concerning his danger. One evening 
Sebastian took him from his little bed, and, thrust 
through and through with anguish, held him 
against his breast. 

He is going to die, Roxalana.” 

** Nonsense,” she answered angrily, but avoiding 
his eyes, “ it is the season that makes Georgey so 
languid. Children of his age are often as sick. 
The summer is over, nearly, and he will revive ; 
this morning he liked his warm milk, and he looked 
up at me with so intelligent an expression” — some- 
thing choked her bell-like voice, but she swallowed 
it. You are not accustomed to children. Geor- 
gey has a good constitution ; he never has had to 
take medicine. I say he has an excellent con- 
stitution.” 

Sebastian said no more, and all mention of the 


240 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


child was avoided after this ; no one liked to 
question her, the misery of her face was so dreadful. 

“ Argus, don’t you see how that boy’s life is 
wasting ? ” asked Sebastian, a day or two after- 
wards. 

I know it, but nothing can be done.” 

I weep for him. To have that sweetness van- 
ish, — to perceive the coming of the hour when I 
shall no longer love him vitally, oh, it crushes the 
meaning out of the world 1 ” 

Remember that your former suffering has 
passed away. You have suffered — ” 

“ From all things in love and death, except these 
poignant, tender, pitying pangs.” 

Argus was surprised at the hold Georgey had 
upon Sebastian’s affections, and for his sake he was 
desirous that he should live ; Roxalana’s silent, 
inflexible grief troubled him also ; but he could 
give neither comfort, for in his soul he was as 
indifferent as if he were the spectator of a game 
not exactly to his taste. The last day was coming ; 
and what was the difference between to-day and 
to-morrow or anybody ? Mat Sutcliffe, at the 
house daily, attending to all sorts of duty, faithful, 
quiet, and cheerful, stoutly stood in his opinion 
that Georgey would recover ; but at last he was 
compelled to admit there was no hope. 

“ I should like to know,” he said to his wife 
“how it is that none of our children have died. 
Not one of ’em has had the least chance of it ; 
they have toughed it out, and are grown up, and 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


241 


are good for nothing, while that little snow-wreath 
of a creetur is melting away from us as fast as God 
will let him ; and he is worth more to that woman, 
Roxalana, than a thousand men and women, and 
worth something to me. Mary, he is dying at the 
rate of nine knots. I can’t abide the ways of the 
Providence there’s so much said about. The 
doctor isn’t good for anything. Hand us out that 
big rummer.” 

Rum is pizen,” answered Mary, the tears run- 
ning down her face, and death is pizen ; and I 
don’t care who knows it. It is a sin and a shame 
for that good, beautiful child to be sick, even, let 
alone dying. Something should be done right 
away ; not a minute’s time should be lost. I am 
going over to the house. Have they given him 
warm baths ? I am going to step into Mrs. Good- 
win’s, round the corner, who knows so much about 
sickness, and ask her if she can’t think of something 
that hasn’t been tried.” 

Mat shook his head. 

‘‘ You had better go, and leave Mrs. Goodwin 
alone ; he is past medicine. Do up all your crying 
now. Blarsted if I ain’t full myself ; there’s been 
nothing like it for twenty year. I thought my 
eyes had got horny.” 

On a silent, windless morning in September 
Georgey died. Sebastian, who had been beside 
him tnrough the night, at daybreak yielded to 
a drowsy inclination, though he heard strange 
sighs from Georgey, whose eyes were closed, and 


242 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


fell asleep in his chair. As in a dream he was 
startled by the clear, loud call of “ Bastian” and 
leaning over the bed he saw that a terrible struggle 
had begun. As he left the room to summon 
Roxalana, he heard “ Bastian " again. It was a 
cry for protection — the cry of a forsaken life — 
Georgey’s farewell. 

Sebastian opened Roxalana’s door and made a 
hurried sign to her to follow him. 

“ No,” she said, “ I shall never see him again. 
I will send Chloe. Go back, Sebastian.” 

Bewildered and maddened at the solitude thrust 
upon him, distracted at the cry that pierced his 
heart, he ran back, and kneeling by the bed put 
his hand upon Georgey’s head, then threw himself 
upon the floor and hid his face. 

Presently Roxalana tottered out of her room 
like an old woman, and meeting Chloe, stopped, 
and stared at her without speaking ; her eyes ap- 
peared sightless. 

“ I know it,” said Chloe, but I can’t find 
Tempe ; she isn’t in her bed.” 

Roxalana shook her head. 

“ Have you called my husband ? ” she asked. 

“ Marcy on me,” cried Chloe, “ her mind is gone. 
And after all this looking and waiting for death, 
nobody’s ready ; and there is not a soul in sight. 
Where is Capen Gates and Mat Sutcliffe ? ” 

“ Here I am,” answered Mat from below. “ No 
use waking up Gates ; it’s no new thing to him, 
this business. It is over, is it? I’m glad of it 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


243 


This way, marm, — careful, — I see a nail sticking 
out of the boards, you may stumble on’t ; let me 
help you.” 

When Chloe went into that chamber she found 
but one alive there, — the other lay in an attitude 
of terror, struck out of life by the tyrant of one 
kingdom, and not yet ready for any other. Chloe’s 
religion and philosophy were not proof against the 
sight ; she ran from the room, and did not stop 
running till she came to Mary Sutcliffe’s. 

Sebastian remained alone. An hour, or many 
hours, might have passed, when he felt something 
touching his feet, — something groveling there ; he 
raised his face from the floor and discovered Tempe. 

It is you at last,” he said fiercely. She crept 
toward him and tried to take his hand, but he 
sprang from the floor, and then she fell against his 
knees. 

“ Come and embrace your child ! ” he cried, 
compelling her to stand up. “ Here, look upon 
him, — for this cruelty were you born ? You love 
the cruel and the bitter alone. Oh, base, poltroon 
heart, mother without sex ! ” 

His every word shattered her with the force of 
blows. Her eyes were wildly fixed upon the child, 
and the sight broke her heart ! 

Hush, Sebastian,” and Argus stood behind 
them. “ You should not be here. Roxalana needs 
you.” Tempe threw out her arms convulsively, 
and with her lips strained apart, shrieked : “ Cruel 
and bitter as I am, Sebastian — ” 


244 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


Argus caught her so quickly, that her utterance 
was stifled. 

“ I’ll take you away,” he said. You must obey 
me. Not another scene like this ; remember.” 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

HE shadow over Temple House, which other- 



1 wise might have flitted with the autumnal 
clouds, stayed motionless with Roxalana ; she re- 
pelled every interest which might aid her to drive 
it away, and no longer ruled the house, — its con- 
tented and comfort-dispensing spirit. Chloe de- 
clared that her heavy, even tread in the passage 
between her chair in the green room and her bed- 
side was wearing the floor away, as chained pris- 
oners wore the floor of their prisons. She was 
not only dumb, but pretended deafness, that it 
might not be expected to attend to conver- 
sation going on in her presence. Her conduct 
prevented sympathy or consolation from reaching 
her ; even Virginia, who sought her in the hope 
of breaking down the barrier which shut her up 
with grief, obtained a reply that disappointed the 
hope effectually. 

“ What do you do in an eclipse,” she asked 
Virginia, “ except to look at it through a piece of 
smoked glass ? Did you ever dream of interfering 
with the laws which created the bodies to be 
eclipsed ? Why should you interfere with a mental 
eclipse ? One is as inevitable as the other. It is 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


245 


not necessary now for you to penetrate the dark- 
ness which I am in ; wait till it surrounds you, then 
you will learn the wisdom I practice. I have no 
, fancy at all for looking at any subject in your light ; 
I have lost regard for life." 

Neither would Tempe permit the friendly ad- 
vances which Virginia made. The perverse crea- 
ture behaved as if determined to quit the world 
also ; all her fire seemed to have burned down, 
her sharp spirit evaporated. Nothing was alive in 
her but languor ; too restless with its consuming 
influence, she could neither lie down or sit up for 
any length of time, but drooped over the chairs 
and settees, and covered her face from the light 
with her arms. She avoided solitude, was afraid 
of being left alone, though she did not wish to be 
spoken to. She cried in her sleep, but shed no 
tears when awake ; made mouths at her food, and 
tormented Chloe by long, unwinking fits of staring, 
mute reverie. While she remained in this condi- 
tion it was Chloe’s business to scold, expostulate, 
and coax, for there was nobody else to do it ; a 
healthful disturbance was thereby kept up between 
them, though it cost Chloe tears of vexation, and 
Tempe unwilling smiles. 

I am going to die," she said one day, when 
Chloe made a dash at her, and cried out to her 
to speak. “ Wouldn’t you like to see me in a white 
dress ? " 

“If you die," Chloe replied, “I’ll never do any^ 
thing for you as long as I live." 


246 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


Roxalana, who was present, gave an abrupt 
laugh, so unexpected by Chloe, but which rejoiced 
her so that she went into the kitchen, and sedately^ 
skipped over the floor in acknowledgment of her 
approval of the natural sign. It was during this 
period, while Roxalana was wrapped in the cloud 
of her grief, that Tempe approached her with 
symptoms of affection never manifested before. 
Roxalana made no response ; if she had, perhaps 
Tempe’s pride and aversion to the expression of 
sentiment would have suppressed it. When Sebas- 
tian saw her on the floor, resting her head against 
Roxalana’s knees, still and self-absorbed, he stopped 
as before a picture, and observed Tempe closely for 
the first time in his life. He discovered in her an 
extraordinary capacity for beauty ; how was it 
possible to develop it, and not really develop her 
into one of those angels who make man’s paradise 
murky and lurid as the air of hell ! Her brilliant, 
silky hair was very long now, spreading low down 
on her neck and brow in irregular lines, framing 
her colorless complexion in dense black and white, 
except her well-cut lips, which clung together 
like the double scarlet blossoms which grow 
on the twigs of slender, dark-stemmed shrubs. 
He turned on his heel abruptly, and sought 
Chloe. 

“ Is the little miss thinking of making her will ?” 
he asked. 

“ Marcy, Mr. Sebastian, she hasn’t a mite of 
property. Nobody will be the better off for her 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


247 


dying, and only she will be the worse. I hope she 
won’t go till she has met with a change.” 

‘‘ She may be on that road. What does it mean 
that at this moment she is holding her dusky head 
against her mother’s knees?” 

“ If you expect me to account for anything that 
happens here, I shall have to disappoint you. 
'Pears to me, if this family can’t be droll one way 
they will another. I have noticed lately that Missis 
Tempe has got the kink into her head of hanging 
round her mother, but it seems to make no differ- 
ence to her. What are we coming to, if that wo- 
man is going to sit in the shadow of darkness for- 
ever and 'ternally ? ” 

Sebastian’s head drooped ; he sighed and mut- 
tered : 

Roxalana’s feelings are immortal ; mine are — 
for the future ; the past recedes like a mirage when 
I endeavor to reach it. Even now, that child- 
angel fades like the crescent moon vanishing in 
sunrise — a silver, impalpable shadow. Bah ! Chloe, 
it grows into your chilly season so fast ; the wild 
red leaves are blowing from the trees again, and 
the air bites me — but sweetly.” 

Bites ? Mr. Sebastian, try a hair of the same 
dog that bites the Gates folks ; then you’ll never be 
chilly, nor hungry, and you won’t ask any more 
questions.” 

“ I have become so solitary,” he continued, 
looking into himself, and forgetful of Chloe, “ that 
Roxalana and Tempe together, in some incompre- 


248 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


hensible communion, make my sensations chime 
like a bell, one against another. Do beings die to 
change life for others ? Does death open avenues 
for one to start from ? Saints ! and especially the 
hermit saints ! My solitude grows reverberating ! 
The sand which rolls and slides, grain by grain, at 
last chokes the channel, and the tide boils in fury 
over. And the dead wedge when driven into the 
live tree divides, and crushes it. I think life here 
already differs, even with the unchanging Argus, 
yet what can he do ? For the matter of that, what 
can I ? What if I try once more the old scenery ? 
Bah ! the lights are out, the ballet has taken off it 
spangles ; besides, I can not leave. No, I am 
bound — twice, thrice bound to this spot.” 

He struck the floor with his boot, looked out of 
his intense pupils at Chloe, who had indifferently 
resumed her occupation, and whirled round to has- 
ten into Roxalana’s presence again. 

“ My soul,” thought Chloe, “ when his eyes are 
fixed so, like coals lighted, he is the image of Ju- 
das in Mr. Brande’s picture of the Lord’s Supper, 
which an agent brought round. I must say, Judas 
was a very handsome apostle. I remember that 
Mr. Brande said at the time that he had bought 
the picture to head the list in Kent, but that it was 
an impious thing to attempt the portrait of Jesus 
Christ ; it was not for sinful man to imagine him 
looking like a man. And Virginia said — well, I 
don’t remember what she did say, but he lectured 
her half an hour. Plague on this little spider- 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


249 


legged pitcher, the silver is so thin and worn I 
could prick it through and through with a pin.” 

Roxalana,” cried Sebastian, standing before 
her, I want you. Come from that dark under- 
world. I have lost hold of the anchors of Temple 
House ; where are they ? 

Well, Sebastian,” she answered, raising her 
heavy eyes, “ I am here, what will you have ? ” 

You do not attend to what I say. I want you, 
my friend ; give me my tranquillity, which is leav- 
ing me.” 

“ I asked what you would have. Get up, 
Tempe.” 

Tempe obeyed, and sank upon a seat by the win- 
dow. Sebastian took her place. 

** I perceive,” he whispered, “ that she clings to 
you. Is it any temptation for you to love life 
again ? ” 

Roxalana looked round at Tempe reflectively, 
and a shade of surprise came into her face. 

“ Nothing tempts me,” she replied. I do not 
wish to be tempted.” 

“ Neither do I, yet I shall be ; when the neces- 
sity of being tempted exists in one, temptation ap- 
proaches.” 

** Resistance then is in vain,” she said, interested 
in spite of herself, 

“ With me it is. The senses are plumed for 
flight ; when the breeze fans them they must 
ascend.” 

** Resist temptation and it will flee from you,” 


250 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


she quoted, looking absent again. “ I have not 
looked into the Bible much since I lived with papa.” 

“Is there a Bible in this house? ’’said Tempe, 
with closed eyes, as if she were speaking in a 
dream. “ Grandpa used to quote that when I cried 
for his lizards, and sea-horses, and plums.” 

Roxalana’s face flushed deeply and painfully ; 
she had never heard Tempe refer to those early 
days, so long buried in her own mind that they 
were never recalled. Was Tempe teaching her ? 

“ And so you remember those things, Tempe ?” 

“ Yes, and more. I could have had them all, 
you know, but I never did yield to but one tempta- 
tion, mother — my evil disposition, — one of that 
fine flock of the senses Sebastian speaks of. I 
suppose there may have been one more temptation 
which I gave in to, but I shall not mention it.” 

There was defiance in her tone. 

“ Open your eyes, Tempe, for God’s sake ! ” ex- 
claimed Sebastian. “ I do not like statues with 
voices.” 

“ Poor statues ! But statues are eyeless ; I can’t 
open my eyes ; they see nothing when they un- 
close.” 

Roxalana looked pitifully at him, as if she would 
have him excuse Tempe. 

“ Don’t resist me,” he begged. “ Roxalana, it 
was your calm, cheerful philosophy, as well as the 
friendship of Argus, that gave the bloom to my 
life again, which more than the waves of Kent bay 
washed off. See, I am only thirty years old ; 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


251 


am I to have no reward for adding my years to the 
years under this roof? Have you thought how 
strong and skillful must be the wall which a man 
like me must build between himself and the storms 
of the passions. Before you and Argus they must 
not break in. Look at me.” 

She obeyed him, and laid her hand gently on 
his shoulder, for he was kneeling beside her like a 
child. 

Tempe shuddered as if she were in an ague ; — 
they had forgotten her ! Why should she ever open 
her eyes ? Why not fall out of the high window, 
and disappear with other miserable atoms of dust 
beneath it ? 

** Look into my face,” continued Sebastian. “Do 
you believe me as incredibly simple as yourself ? 
And yet you must, for you accept the strange 
beings round you for just what they appear. Let 
me ask, though, once more, if I may not be yours ? 
^The bloWy you say. I know that, but the other 
blows, — can you stand against those ? ” 

She gave him her hand, but there was no light 
in her countenance. 

“ Begin, dear,” he went on, “ to hide the bruise 
in your heart. Alas, we must have refuge, and be 
healed. Now Argus — ” 

“ Argus,” she interrupted reproachfully; “how 
is Argus ? I shall never know till I ask him, and 
then he will make merry.” 

“ Argus is well,” exclaimed Tempe, “ he is on the 
lawn, knocking the ashes from the end of his cigar. 


252 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


with the same equanimity that he formerly knocked 
sailors overboard. Don’t trouble yourself about 
Argus, mother ; the air and a loaf of bread, his 
cigar and the bench under the elms, suffice the 
wants of that lofty iceberg. Why he ever drifted 
into this climate is as much of a mystery as some 
other driftings are.” 

But Roxalana did look troubled ; she went to the 
window and looked at Argus steadfastly. He was 
the picture of indifference and laziness ; his legs 
were crossed, his shoulders slouched, and he puffed 
his cigar slowly, as if it were one of the last efforts 
he might be expected to make. 

That man,” she said, with some animation, “ is 
dressed in a nankin suit, and it is October — does 
he know it ? ” She sighed, and turned back. 
“ What were you about to say, Sebastian ? I can 
guess, though, but I believe you may be mistaken.” 

“ Would he speak to you as I have spoken ? ” 

“ He never demands anything.” 

“ It is only a Spanish fashion to demand,” Tempe 
remarked ; “ the Gates family neither demand, nor 
require anything.” 

Sebastian made an abrupt movement towards her 
and retreated. The little puss stretches out her 
claws once more,” he said. 

Tempe, can’t you hold your tongue?” asked 
her mother. 

I can,” she answered, “ but have no idea of 
doing so.” 

I meant at first to say, Roxalana,” continued 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


253 


Sebastian, that Argus ignores what we call the 
inner voice ; consequently he is able to notice no 
correspondence between that and the voices from 
the life around him ; he chooses to suffer and en- 
joy on another basis.” 

She shook her head, and doubtfully twisted her 
hands. 

“ The inner voiced' she repeated, “ what is it ? If 
there were no pressure from the external, should 
we ever hear it ? I never do, in any event. I hope 
you understand Argus. He is a peculiar man — 
entirely different from you, Sebastian ; I am glad 
of it, for your sake. Go out to him ; he has been 
alone some time.” 

Sebastian instantly left her. As soon as he shut 
the door Tempe opened it again, and followed him 
to the lawn, and Roxalana was alone. In a few min- 
utes she went to the window, and contemplated the 
group under the elms. Tempe, her arms hid under 
a shawl, sat at the end of a bench, meditating on 
the tree-tops, or watching the atmosphere, for her 
head was cast upwards, and her eyes roved. Sebas- 
tian was smoking beside Argus, who remained in 
the same position as when she looked at him 
before. 

The afternoon sun, dipping over the lawn, tinged 
the fading grass, and the brown leaves scattered 
over it, with a yellow light ; the pale, blue sky was 
cloudless, and the motionless elms stood against it, 
still green, though their leaves fell constantly, 
shattered at heart by the poison of decay. A dis- 


254 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


tant bell, from some belfry in the town, was ring- 
ing. It was as if a moment had arrived when the 
mind might rouse from the natural reflection mir- 
rored there by the spirit of autumn, that man and 
his belongings are eternally vanishing, — sinking be- 
hind a dark horizon, — the mysterious boundary of 
his mind, beyond which lie visions — nothing more. 

A flood swelled up from Roxalana’s breast, and 
broke into tears which blistered her eyelids ; sobs 
sounding like the growl of an animal at bay, stifled 
and stopped her breath. Still she kept her eyes 
wide open upon the scene before the window, — half 
thinking out her struggle, half allowing it to work 
out by its own law. It had come to her that 
day, and Sebastian’s appearance and words had 
strengthened the idea, — that the capacity of choos- 
ing her old life must now be made possible. To 
do so, however, the chain of memory and associa- 
tion which bound her must be broken ; the dead, 
a reproach to her springs of being, could not 
exist with the living, and her faith and enjoyment 
in them. Which should she choose? Take up 
life, and live resolutely, with freedom ? Or should 
she fear and despise it, keeping her heart at the 
gates of loss and annihilation ? 

It appeared as if the group on the lawn were 
waiting for her pending decision, they remained so 
fixed and silent. The sun sank below the garden 
wall ; the sky changed ; red and purple vapor, 
rough like surf, and peaked like a mountain chain, 
rose round it; a swift wind swept over the bay, 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


255 


bringing the noise of the tide into the elms, whose 
boughs were suddenly and wildly shaken. Some 
autumn birds, joyous in the great scene above, 
below, the hemisphere of fiery, heaping, driving 
cloud and rushing air, and the hemisphere of sway- 
ing forests, the dark rolling bay, town, hill, and 
fields — flew overhead with a loud twitter. Tempe 
followed their flight, and Roxalana, still watching, 
involuntarily raised her head also. With that 
strange superstition which belongs to naturally 
faithless natures, she instantly believed that the 
birds were bearing her troubles away. The strug- 
gle was over. Pale, and with an uncertain gait, 
she went out to join those with whom she had taken 
lot again, to do, or say — she knew not what. 
Sebastian rose in astonishment when he saw her 
coming down the steps, bareheaded and smiling; 
but Argus, who knew her so well, only half turned 
his face towards her. 

“ I notice those birds,” she said ; “ have they 
not colonized in the poplars ? ” 

“ No,” answered Argus ; “they were a belated 
party, and do not belong here.” 

“ Which way is the wind ? ” 

“ As if you didn’t know, mother,” said Tempe, 
looking at her with curiosity. 

“ Can’t you let your mother ask whatever ques- 
tion she pleases ? ” said Argus. “ The wind shall 
be which way you please, Roxalana, but it will 
blow to-night, and I doubt whether we have many 
leaves to sit under after this.” 


256 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


She looked up into the elms, and an expression 
of the old content came into her voice. 

How beautiful they still are ! ” she said. 

The tone of her fine voice struck Argus ; how 
should he pass back, and live over the days when 
that tone was habitual with her ? 

Sebastian took her hand, and drew her down the 
path. 

When have you looked over the gate ? ” he said, 
thanking her with his eyes. 

“ Mother,” called Tempe, **you are bareheaded 
and beyond the trees ; you will feel the wind.” 

Roxalana put her hand to her head. 

“ So I am, Sebastian.” 

Oh, my poor Roxalana, I see now that your 
hair is gray.” 

“ But yours is not.” 

“ Give me your shawl, Tempe,” said Argus; “I 
will take it to her. Now run into the house ; let 
me see two miracles to-day.” 

What do you mean ? ” 

** Water turned to wine.” 

“ Nonsense, uncle Argus. But how funny, — this 
is the second time I have heard something from 
the Bible to-day.” 

“Trollop, you ought to keep one under your 
pillow, and read it every night. What did you 
hear ? ” 

“ ‘ Resist temptation, and it will flee from you. 
Do you read the Bible in your bedroom ? ” 

“ Who is tempted ? ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


257 


** Nobody now, but somebody will be.” 

The child begins to feel the pangs of experi- 
ence ! Run into the house ; your hair will blow 
away.” 

“ I wish it would blow through my head ; a cur- 
rent of cool air, uncle Argus, intersecting it, would 
be an advantage ; but I suppose I may not expect 
anything to penetrate it.” 

He gave her a curious look. 

How would you like a surprise, Tempe ? ” 

“ Oh, I am surprised.” 

At what ? ” 

With a timid gesture, she pointed at Sebas- 
tian. Argus meditated a moment, and then said 
sharply: 

There is nothing to surprise in him, I assure 
you.” 

‘‘ I know better; he is full of those instincts you 
know nothing about.” 

“ Gracious Peter ! ” 

‘‘You may give one of your round-the-world 
laughs or sneers, it will still be the same with me ; 
I feel an energy from him to-day, I am in a savage 
sympathy with him, and I should like to pain him 
too.” 

“ Go in.” 

“ So I will, when I get ready.” 

There’s malaria somewhere round us; we are 
getting upside down. It is the style of his face 
makes you think so ; the Spaniard inevitably sug- 
gests love and revenge, but there is nothing of the 


258 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


sort in Sebastian. I wish you would let me alone,” 
replied Argus, a little confused. 

“ The man shall love me,” said Tempe haughtily, 
rising, and moving towards the house ; and Argus 
went to the gate with an anger he had never felt 
against Tempe till now. 

“You had better go in, and take a romantic view 
with Chloe regarding the tea-table. You are a 
froward child.” 

He called to Roxalana : “ Tea is waiting ! ” 

“ Let it wait,” she answered. 

Argus exchanged a look with Sebastian who 
nodded gravely, and made a gesture signifying 
gratitude for the change in her. 

“ By heaven,” said Argus, “ I am sure the kitchen 
chimney smokes.” 

“ It does not ; it never did,” she replied ; “ let us 
go in then, and see about the fire.” 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

M at SUTCLIFFE, while busy in the garden, 
digging round the old rose-trees, and clear- 
ing out the rubbish in the thicket, saw Argus, with 
his trowsers in his boots, and wearing the sealskin 
cap, advancing along the path which led to the 
summer-house ; he carried a cane, and stopped 
occasionally to turn up the leafy moss, and tap the 
tree trunks, as if he was seeking some hidden 
thing. Instead of going into the summer-house, 
however, he walked several times round it, and 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


259 


carefully beat off the few shaking leaves on the 
grapevine. Mat, without any reason for so doing, 
slipped to the back of the thicket to conceal him- 
self. When Argus finished his exercise with the 
cane, he threw it into the summer-house, folded 
his arms, and, as it appeared to Mat, earnestly 
studied the weather-vane, which creaked slightly. 
He stood so long there that Mat made up his mind 
that he had better attend to his business, and was 
about to confront Argus, but did not, for he sud- 
denly went through the poplars, climbed the wall 
behind them, and disappeared. The day was 
damp and chilly ; a dull wind crept like a serpent 
over the ground, as if crowded down by the low, 
heavy sky ; the gray grass shook under it, and the 
tall weeds, full of dry seeds, rasped against the 
stone walls to a dismal tune ; the water along the 
shore tumbled and roared beside it, without break- 
ing into waves or surf. “ A beautiful morning,” 
Mat thought, to be caning about the country.” 
And he fell to work again ; but overcome by an in- 
clination for reflection, he sat down on his wheel- 
barrow and lighted his pipe. 

“What can be in the wind with Gates?” he 
queried. “ He goes from post to pillar, as if he 
remembered something he had forgot, and from 
pillar to post, as if he couldn’t find it. He passes 
all my calerlations, the Capen does, nowadays, 
blarsted if he don’t. That ere iron constitution of 
his can’t be breaking up, can it, and he won’t own 
it ? You see in former times his life was different, 


26 o 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


it raly was ; and 'tis said, but I know it to be a 
lie, — that murder will out. It is my opinion that 
Gates never had anything he wanted, — nor ever 
did anything he wanted to do, — except draw his 
breath, and keep cool ; and that even in the days 
he gambled, and drank, and what not, because he 
was in Gambleland. I guess I’ll speak to my old 
woman about this ere matter. I actilly don’t know 
what to make out. Who’s in it ? Not Mr. Ford. 
Is it Roxalana Gates’s dreadful dumps? Poor, 
feeble Tempe ? ’Taint Miss Virginia Brande ! 
Damn me if I didn’t see that Garfield in the street 
yesterday ! He has come back.” 

He started up with the intention of going home, 
but on reaching the alley door changed his mind, 
and went back to work. 

It was true, as Roxalana had said, that Argus 
made no demands ; but it was also true that she was 
the prop of his obvious life, and that her lethargic, 
obdurate grief had destroyed it. The glacier at 
last rolls into the valley, and reveals the skeleton it 
has held together so many years. This chosen life, 
which Argus conducted as intact and unalienable 
in the atmosphere of Temple House, was breaking 
up and melting away ; the change in Roxalana had 
revealed the shifting possibilities of every circum- 
stance about him. Knowing in his consciousness 
what would best suit him, had he a choice in the 
future — to be alone in his own domain, and with- 
out intimate connection with any human being — he 
yet deliberately set to work upon those prob- 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


261 


lems hitherto set aside, in the faith that they 
must work out themselves. He grew harder, 
colder, quieter during the process ; but men may 
come and men may go through the mazes of per- 
plexity a long time, and the commonplace still flow 
round them. If Sebastian perceived any difference 
in him, he ascribed it to the general difference 
which had touched them all. It was several weeks 
before the acute Mat decided that there really was 
something doubtful about the Capen. 

Argus contemplated Sebastian’s friendship, Vir- 
ginia’s love, Tempe’s difficult future, and Roxa- 
lana’s sad, dull old age. Should he sell the estate, 
and with the money settle Roxalana in a new, and 
perhaps, so far as Tempe was concerned, a wise 
position ? Persuade Sebastian to leave the coun- 
try, go with him, and never return ? Should he 
defy Brande and Garfield, and take Virginia ? The 
former could trouble him but little ; but how about 
the latter ? Her love would still be a glittering 
net ; let him turn in any direction, he would feel its 
meshes. He set aside her beauty, sweetness, and 
power — for he was adamant — the instincts which 
made him a man, and shut his eyes upon that sel- 
fishness which might calculate her as the com- 
panion and friend of his lonely age, and pondered 
over one characteristic, — that which made him re- 
markable — his secretive, impassive individuality, — 
whether he had better live on it, as his substance, 
or share it with Virginia, to her advantage and 
his happiness. 


262 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


On the morning when he came under Mat Sut- 
cliffe’s observation, he had decided that he would 
marry her — and immediately. The next day, while 
possessed with his plans, and smoking on the lawn, 
in the warmth and stillness of that beautiful Octo- 
ber afternoon, Roxalana went out to him, having 
passed through the valley of the shadow of death 
to resume her sway. He was not the man, how- 
ever, to change a purpose. That very evening 
he looked up Mat Sutcliffe, and asked him to 
take a note to the Forge. 

“ Is anybody sick at your house ? ” Mat in- 
quired, jamming down his tarpaulin. 

Yes, I am, deadly sick — love-sick.” 

Oh, indeed, to be sure you are now. What am 
I going arter, nails ? ” 

You are going after my wife.” 

“ Now don’t bust me ! Bah, as I think on’t 
Martha, the housekeeper, is just about your 
age.” 

“ Get out. I’ll be on the path in an hour for 
my answer.” 

Mat put the note in his pocket, some tobacco in 
his mouth, and started, saying that he was mortally 
afeard of Brande’s bull-dog. 

Kill him,” said Argus, and any other beast 
that interferes with you.” 

“ Just so, now I know you are in earnest ; but 
hadn’t you better go below, Capen ? ” 

Argus laughed, and bade him go on. 

The note contained these words : 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


263 


“ If you are ready, my dearest, shall we now be 
married ? If you are, when can I confer with 
your father ? If you have not changed — recollect 
how little we have seen each other of late — I love 
you ; if you have changed, I love you. My flames 
may not burn as yours, so prettily, so lambent — 
that you know ; still I am on fire, and fire under 
ice is terrible to the one burned between them. I 
am at your service ; make it a long expiation of 
desire and duty. Come and live with me, Vir- 
ginia ; please, my dear. 

“ Argus, your Husband.” 

Mat was clever enough to insist upon handing 
the note himself to Virginia, and stupid enough to 
follow Sarah into the parlor with it. It is certain 
he blushed, and got very much entangled in his 
ideas, when he saw not only Virginia, but her 
father and Mr. Garfield in the parlor. He sat 
down without being asked to do so, put his hat 
under his chair, and twisted his thumbs desperately, 
and then said nothing. 

Well, Mat,” said Virginia, somewhat disappoint- 
ed in his bearing, for he was a favorite with her, 
you have brought me a message ? ” 

“ A billet, Miss Brande,” he answered, his cool- 
ness, true Yankee that he was, instantly returning. 
“ I accommodated a friend by bringing it. An 
answer is expected.” 

Is anything amiss your way ? ” asked Mr. 
Brande. 

“ Not that I know of.” 


264 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


“ Temple House not tumbled down yet ? ” 
asked Mr. Garfield, with his eye on Virginia. 

I left the family all right, sir, with their best 
foot foremost. That ere house is equal to some of 
the palaces I saw up the Thames a number of years 
ago. What is the name of that plant that has 
yaller flowers, growing out of the cracks in the 
walls ? " 

Mr. Garfield did not deign to answer him, but 
Mat was quite indifferent about a reply ; he meant 
to distract attention from Virginia, whose coun- 
tenance had changed to extreme paleness. 

Do your beams and timbers get the dry-rot, 
here,” he went on, loudening his voice, “ as ours 
do ? I suppose 1 could shake out a bushel of 
powder from the stanchions in the garret at Temple 
House, — a bushel to say the least, a bushel ! ” 

He raised his voice so high with the last word, 
that Mr. Brande, who was reading, turned in sur- 
prise, and following the direction of his eyes, saw 
Virginia’s agitation. 

“ What is the matter, daughter ? ” he said, 
rising and going to her. 

Mat,” said Virginia hastily, “ I will not trouble 
you to wait, I will send an answer to-morrow.” 

Mat remembered that Argus would be waiting 
for him, and expecting something more positive. 
What could he invent to bring it about ? He had 
not been in contact with the dog, but he was sure 
he was in the presence of the beast Argus hinted at. 

“ She ain’t expected to live. Miss Tempe ain’t,” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


265 


he said, desperately, and I am sure that Mrs. 
Gates won’t like to wait till to-morrow. I’ll stay 
till you’ve made up your mind to write.” Mr. Car- 
field laughed unpleasantly. 

I saw your friend. Miss Tempe, this morning,” 
he said, “ and I thought there was quite a bloom 
on her cheek.” 

The blood rose to the roots of Mat’s hair. 
Where could that man have seen Tempe? Not 
many hours should pass, he vowed, before he would 
see Roxalana Gates, and tell her she was a criminal 
for keeping her eyes shut to the going on of those 
in whom she should have an anxious concern. 

“ She may be the worse for that,” he answered 
hotly. 

No, Mat,” said Virginia, “ I prefer that you 
should not wait. I shall send a note to Temple 
House early in the morning.” 

“ Just as you say, miss,” he replied, picking up 
his hat. 

She made a half attempt, in her kindness, to go 
towards him, meaning, possibly, to exchange a word 
or a significant look with him from behind the bars 
of her cage ; but she was prevented, for Mr. Car- 
field walked across the floor, eyeing the door, and 
Mat in a rage went out. 

‘‘ She is afraid,” he said to himself outside. “ I 
wouldn’t be in that woman’s shoes for one hundred 
dollars, — no, nor two.” 

He met Argus half-way up the path. 

You have been gone a devil of a time.” 


266 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


“ I might have stayed longer, just as well one 
way as another ; there’s no answer for you this 
night, Capen.” 

‘‘ No ? Why not ? ” 

“ She has no will of her own. Mr. Brande and 
piety was together, and that ere Garfield might be 
considered as thrown in.” 

You gave my note to her before those gentle- 
men, did you ! ” 

Exactly so, and put my foot in it handsome.” 

“ They have both read it before this.” 

Argus stopped, and looked back towards the 
Forge. 

“ Take the advice of a booby, and keep right 
along the path with me ; the poor girl was flustered 
enough for to-night a-reading your billet ; didn’t 
know you could do such a thing. You’ll never get 
her away by fair means. Garfield is a trump — for 
having his own way — they say this time he will 
fetch it, and marry her.” 

Argus’s step grew irresolute again. I’ll go 
back and take her to-night.” 

“ Gome on, Gapen, it is darker behind you than 
it is before you. Brande is cunning, and the other 
chap is bold ; you ain’t a match for them.” 

“ I only wish to be a match for Miss Brande.” 

Well, now, do you want me to tell you how it 
can be done ? ” 

Go on.” 

Run away with her.” 

Pooh ! ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 267 

When I say run, I mean ask her to have you 
unbeknown.” 

Argus was struck with the idea. Much trouble 
might be avoided by such a measure, and he meekly 
asked how such a thing could be done. 

“ With ten dollars, and old Squire Perkins.” 

I will think of it,” said Argus, after a long 
pause. “ I think I am growing brainless, for I 
begin to be afraid, and I dread meeting with famil- 
iar things. I am miserable in looking for the 
unknown.” 

Capen, if I could only bring Mis Roxalana 
round, — this ere event of yours, it will pay, and she 
is fond of Miss Virginia. Go right in, Capen, and 
smoke over it. Here’s to ye.” 

Argus went home without another word, and 
Mat, in his excitement, sat up with the big rummer 
and his pipe till Mary’s snoring assured him he 
should keep from telling her, that night, at lest. 

“ What is the matter ? ” Mr. Brande repeated, 
when Mat had gone. Virginia was at her wit’s end 
for a reply. Would nothing come to her aid, to 
save Argus from shame ? 

Have I returned to find melodrama ? ” said 
Mr. Garfield harshly. 

‘^Melodrama in a Christian woman ! ” said Mr. 
Brande. “ Give me the note.” 

Virginia crushed it in her hand, but retained it. 

I repeat,” he said, shaking his handkerchief as 
if it were a net, “ give me the note, or answer my 
question, daughter.” 


268 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


She looked at him beseechingly. A shade of 
annoyance passed over his shining face ; that she 
should be embarrassed before Mr. Garfield stung 
his pride. 

“ Girls will be girls," he said, looking at Mr. Car- 
field ; “that preposterous Temple Drake has sent 
some nonsensical message. The name of Gates I 
despise, except, perhaps, in the case of Argus." 

“ And why not him ? " asked Mr. Garfield. “ I 
think him an out-of-the-way ass. He intends at 
last to marry Virginia. Her face says so." 

“ I, — I do not believe you," she said, turning 
paler. How can my face express what I do not 
know ? " 

“ Impossible ! " said Mr. Brande. 

“ Before your father, then, once more, Virginia, 
I ask you to accept me as your husband," cried 
Mr. Garfield. 

“ Virginia," said her father gravely, “ you are 
compromised. You are as well aware of the fact 
as I am that all Kent knows that Mr. Garfield has 
lived in my house with the intention of marrying 
you. I have given our friends reason to believe 
that he is agreeable to us. I desire you to accept 
Mr. Garfield. The voice of nature demands it — the 
ties of property, our business, my welfare. Don’t 
bring any disgrace on me, daughter." 

She thrust the note inside her bodice, with a 
strange look at Mr. Garfield. 

“ Take it away from there, the cursed thing," he 
said fiercely; “ I won’t have it so." 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


269 


** Give me a little time, father," she said, putting 
her hand against her breast, with a gesture which 
made Mr. Garfield bite his lips ; “ and excuse me 
now, I will consider your wishes." 

Mr. Brande waved his consent to her leaving the 
room ; he was reading his partner like a book, and 
thought it time for her to go. 

“ Now,” he mused, “ why am I not like this man ? 
I envy him, I believe he is a frank scoundrel." 

He turned very suddenly and quietly, looked 
Mr. Garfield directly in the eyes ; and then as 
quietly rubbed his smooth jaws, to look into the 
fire. 

Mr. Garfield smiled, and thought that he could 
account for Virginia’s timidity. 

Brande," he said, “ I do want her ; but how 
far do you think a fellow may descend in such a 
pursuit ? " 

** How far have you gone ? " 

“ I am trying to compel her to marry me, for I 
feel almost certain that Argus Gates stands in my 
way. For more than a year I have been playing 
this interesting game, and all I have gained is her 
irresolution. Did you ever lose anything you were 
terribly in earnest to get, Brande ? " 

I think I have generally gained my objects, but 
I have never been so very much in earnest. As for 
my daughter, I know, of course, her strong attach- 
ment for that Gates family ; I can only believe that 
Argus is but a part of it. I think she is an obedi- 
ent girl, and that her nature is a pliable one. I 


270 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


wish her to marry you ; she will be happy in so do- 
ing. What more can she ask for than to continue 
her placid, prosperous life ? ” 

“ She asks for all her beauty demands, and she 
should have it ; it is the purpose of my life to make 
her own that I can give it to her.” 

“ You must be infatuated,” stammered Mr. 
Brande, “ to speak to me so. I — I should like to 
reprove you : it would not become me, perhaps, to 
do so, but I think it would be right.” 

What is the price of your daughter ? Did I pay 
it for the Forge — for my friendship with you ? I 
bought her. She knows it.” 

“ She knows that I want her to marry you, and 
that is enough. If it pleases your taste to call it a 
matter of selfish business, do so, but let the affair 
be conducted decently, for heaven’s sake, Garfield. 
Your youthful rashness is unpardonable.” 

** Me a * rash youth,’ Brande ? I am sure that you 
know the devil must make a horrible grimace 
when you are offered him to swallow. Surely you 
are man enough to admit that the devil may have 
a choice among his pious tid-bits, as it was the 
choice of Christ to allow the publicans to enter 
heaven before the Pharisees.” 

My dear boy, I admit everything ; but isn’t it 
rather late ? Recollect, we have to ride thirty 
miles to-morrow.” 

“ True — about those shares ; don’t sit up then. 
I have still a little reading to do. By the way. I’ll 
overlook your wish — to reprove me, you know.” 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


271 


Mr. Brande smiled faintly, and said it was diffi- 
cult for him to forget his old-fashioned prejudices. 
But, on his way to his bedroom, he asked himself 
how it was that the circumstances of Virginia’s life 
should have brought so bold and passionate a man 
as Garfield to her feet, while he, in all his years, 
had never been tempted by one whose power might 
have shaken his resolves. 

When Virginia sat down before her dressing- 
table she read the note Argus had written ; then 
she was foolish enough to kiss it, and put it under 
her pillow. Letting down her hair, she thought 
that she would think, while undressing, of the 
course best to pursue with Argus, her father, and 
Mr. Garfield ; but the operation was over, her 
hair carefully braided in heavy bands, before she 
had thought of anything, — except the happiness 
she should feel if Argus were with her at that 
moment, watching her with that gentle coldness 
which was a mystery and fascination to her. She 
concluded that her mind would better collect itself 
in bed and the dark, for of course something 
must be planned, and accordingly put out her light 
and went to bed. But the darkness proved op- 
pressive ; besides, she wanted to read the note 
once more ; therefore she rose, relighted her lamp, 
put on a dressing-gown, and sat down in a severe 
manner to reflect. It was dreary to begin her 
theme with the sacrifice of inclination, but she did. 
The night grew colder, as if divesting itself of the 
heat and perturbation of the day. Its deepening 


272 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


solitude toned her mind to a lofty key ; thought 
and feeling hand in hand, like innocent and affec- 
tionate spirits, ascended to the throne, where, as she 
believed, the Ruler of the universe was waiting to 
hear the petitions of souls against those fiats which 
the soul itself issues in favor of the subtle martyr- 
doms which decorates life with its crown and thorns. 
With the abnegation inherent in her character, and 
its narrowness, which prevented her from look- 
ing at final effects, she decided upon giving up 
Argus, although she felt acutely that her acts laid 
bare her purpose of bringing him to the point, 
which, at last, his note declared. To the end 
would she live with her father ; their house should 
not be divided because of her conduct. With a 
loud, wild, farewell sigh to Argus, she pulled aside 
the curtain to look into the wide air, and feel the 
mercy of darkness. A band of stars rode high and 
clear above a company of moving clouds, spread- 
ing in the reflection of the moon, thin and white, 
like flakes of snow. Earth, a black, tranquil mon- 
ster, was now passive beneath the beautiful illusions 
of moonlight. The life which by day forever en- 
acted scenes of pain was invisible. Yet she must 
not call it pain, nor evil — its passing drama — but 
necessary discipline, and inscrutable wisdom. The 
sword that stabbed was rubbed with healing balm : 
the disappointment that seemed to blight contained 
the germ of development. Filled with the calm 
which she felt was that of another world, she drew 
the curtain, and was about to advance into the 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


273 


room, when a slight sound at the door arrested 
her ; the handle turned slowly and noiselessly. 
The door opened, and Mr. Garfield glided through, 
shut it, and locked it. 

As he did not expect, he saw the lamp burning, 
and Virginia standing before him, rigid, white, 
silent, her hair braided like a child’s behind her 
ears, and enveloped from head to foot in a dressing- 
gown ! 

“ Why are you still up ? ” he asked mechanically. 

A revulsion of feeling took place at the sound of 
his voice, which undid all the process and result 
she had just completed ; the cause of her father 
fell in ruins, so far as the implication of Mr. Car- 
field stood. The blood roared in her veins, which 
just now beat evenly with victorious spiritual 
peace ; he saw it rise to cheek and brow, till her 
eyes, the dark, perfect eyes he doted on, were filled 
with fiery light. She did not speak, while calculat- 
ing the distance between herself and the door 
behind her, which was Sarah’s room ; she wondered 
if she could get there before he could intercept 
her ; but her moral cowardice was great ; the idea 
of the servants knowing his shameful behavior 
was one she could not endure. She was sure that 
in twenty-four hours, were they to know it, it would 
be known in Kent. Mr. Garfield divined her first 
thought. 

“ There can be no communication between you 
and Sarah just yet,” he said. “ What do you think 
I am in your chamber for ? ” 


274 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


She shrugged her shoulders with an ineffable 
scorn. 

“ How many times do you suppose I have waited 
outside your door, believing that some fate would 
send you to open it and find me, — lying across the 
threshold ?” 

Oh, what a life was hers ! Better the old days of 
dread and watching, than a prison like this ! 

“ Your father must have seen me there.” 

“ No, no, — you shall not lie.” 

He sprang towards her, pinioned her in his arms, 
and fell then down at her feet in terrible agitation. 

“ I have come,” he said, in a broken voice, “ to 
say that you must no longer resist me ; the approach 
of that man must be prevented. Have I no power 
over you, at this moment, Virginia — this moment ? ” 

She tried in vain to retreat from him, but could 
not move, for he was kneeling on the border of her 
dress. 

“ An impulse brings me to you,” he continued, 

which you do not know, yet which you shall 
understand. Virginia, I must be yours ; give 
me — ” 

He raised his face, and she looked down at him. 
His mad, beseeching eyes, his open lips and vio- 
lent breath carried to her sad soul the conviction 
that it was her destiny to be the witness of, and a 
party in, scenes the knowledge of which must be 
a condemning barrier between her and the women 
who peopled the world, and who governed it. She 
would have escaped from him upon his entrance 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


275 


into the room, but it had not occurred to her to be 
afraid of him ; and now it did not occur to her 
that at her feet was a handsome, passionate lover, 
the man, too, chosen for her husband by every- 
body, excepting herself and Argus. Meeting her 
eyes, he could not help being touched by the cold, 
silent misery in her face ; then he grew exasperated. 

“ I will injure you beyond all repair,” he said, 
rising suddenly. 

“ I am afraid so.” 

“ Since you spoke to me of Argus Gates, I be- 
lieved that you felt for him only a caprice, base in 
its aims ; I know better now. You are simply like 
other women. So, you are not afraid of me ? ” 
Afraid ! No ; of what should I be afraid ? ” 

“ The newspapers have names for it, invented 
mostly by your sex.” 

Virginia shuddered, and spoke passionately : 

‘‘ Even acquaintance with you shall end ; my 
father must at once decide which of us shall leave 
his house. Will you go, or need I tell him this 
cruel interview ? ” 

He will not decide as you wish, even if you tell 
him the story of to-night ; that is not ended.” 

‘‘ Are you ever going ? You aiie as tiresome as 
you are brutal. Go out, Mr. Garfield.” 

He could have struck her and kissed her till she 
bled, so blended were his hate and admiration. 
Snatching a knot of ribbon from her dress, he 
turned and left the room. 

She felt that she should go mad if she did not 


276 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


sleep, and threw herself on her bed, where Sarah 
found her at breakfast time. 

Miss Virginia," said Sarah significantly, “ you 
look beat out, tired to death." 

Do I ? " she answered, starting up, and looking 
at the girl intently. 

The secret of last night was not confined to her- 
self and Mr. Garfield ! The battle was opened. 
“ Oh, for my Chloe ! " she thought. The note under 
her pillow, which she had forgotten so long, came 
to her, — a flash of joy. 

“ I shall be down presently, Sarah ; you need not 
wait." 

The gentlemen rode away two hours ago. They 
left their love for you." 

Sarah gone, she looked for the note ; that was 
gone also. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

V IRGINIA decided upon going into town imme- 
diately, and conferring with Mat Sutcliffe 
about meeting Argws privately, but was prevented 
from doing so by the arrival of Tempe Drake, who 
said that the imperative wish of her Uncle Argus 
had sent her ; that having reached the house she 
would probably never be able to leave it. Producing 
a second note, she asked Virginia if she would have 
it framed, as it must be the first he had ever writ- 
ten to a lady. Virginia blushed, and looked so 
conscious when she took it that Tempe exclaimed : 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


277 


You don’t mean to say that Uncle Socrates is 
in the habit of inditing notes to you ?” 

‘‘ I mean to say nothing about it,” answered 
Virginia, with vexation, and reading with an as- 
sumption of carelessness the note. “ I only wait to 
know,” wrote Argus, “ your wishes ; but, if I were 
you, I should send by Tempe the following message, 
‘ Everything shall be according to your wishes.’ ” 
This was all. She said at once to Tempe : “ You 

may tell Captain Gates, Tempe, that everything 
shall be as he wishes.” 

“ That will be nothing new for him ; but as I 
told you, I am going to spend the day here. I feel 
stronger for coming. Virginia, I am really glad to 
see you.” 

“ Are you, my dear ? Do stay then. How is 
Roxalana ? ” 

She is like her old self, this morning she spoke 
to us all ; but I am not like my old self.” 

You are prettier,” said Virginia, smiling. 

** And I am more gentle.” 

I hope so.” 

Don’t dream, Virginia ; talk to me.” 

« Yes — what did you say ? ” 

“ Why, here’s Sarah with another note ; it looks 
bed-ridden, though.” 

I found this. Miss Virginia,” said Sarah, on 
the floor, at the head of your bed.” 

Thank you,” said Virginia, with another con- 
scious look at Tempe. “ I am glad we shall be 
alone to-day, Tempe,” she exclaimed, when Sarah 


278 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


was gone. “ Father and Mr. Garfield are away on 
business.” 

“ Do you know that I have not been to the 
Forge since you wrote me about your mother’s 
death ? ” 

“ I know it, Tempe.” 

What made you shut yourself up for so many 
weeks ? And why didn’t you put on mourning ? 
Chloe said no one out of the house saw you for the 
whole summer, and that she heard at meeting that 
it was Mr. Brande’s wish, having made it a matter 
of prayer, that you should not wear black. Is this 
true ? I have have had my own troubles, you know, 
or I should not venture to speak so plainly.” 

. “ It is all true, Tempe. Many months flew away 
in sad nothingness with me. I cannot account for 
the time now. I am sure I shall never have such 
days again ; they began, do you remember, from 
the very night I took tea at your house, when Mr, 
Garfield came for me. He went away immediately 
afterwards ; now that I think of it, his coming and 
going were the dates of that period, especially with 
father ; and so we glided along.” 

His coming and going — Mr. Garfield, I mean 
— delayed your marriage, I suppose.” 

“ I — I don’t know,” said Virginia, taken by sur- 
prise, “ I shall not marry him.” 

“ Not when he has lived here nearly two years, 
and traveled about everywhere with the behavior 
of an engaged man ? I am afraid you are a co- 
quette, or that you don’t know your own mind. 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


279 


Perhaps it will suffice, though, if he knows his 
mind.” 

*‘Oh, Tempe, don’t be bitter with me.” 

Me ! There is not bitterness enough in me to 
make a quinine pill. But you have a right to co- 
quette, and to dally. You are rich, and your own 
mistress.” 

Stupid, blind friend, I am neither.” 

Don’t cry, Virginia, I am growing bright every 
day. You mustn’t be surprised at bursts of knowl- 
edge in me at any time ; I feel them coming, 
I do, I assure you. I am being taught at last what 
life is, — when one ceases to be an infant. For 
heaven’s sake tell me what this torrent of tears 
means. I never saw you cry ; have you soul then ? 
— placid, fair, beautiful Virginia, need I no longer 
envy you ? ” 

Bad girl, I have the influenza, you may depend; 
let us look in ‘ Watson’s Practice ’ for a remedy.” 

Bosh ! but if you do not wish to talk with me, 
don’t drown me with tears. Do you think it will 
be too cold for us to walk down to the pines this 
afternoon ? ” 

“ On your way home ? ” 

“Yes, and to come back. Can you send me 
home by Moses ? If Mr. Garfield were only here to 
drive me home with his remarkable steed ! ” 

“ Would you go with him ? It might flatter him 
deeply.” 

“Do you think so?” Tempe flushed at the 
question. “ Would I not like to move so hand- 


28 o 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


some a man, and so indifferent, too ? He looks to 
me as if made of porphyry, with a crystal here and 
there.” 

“ It is a pleasant idea, — our going to the woods, 
— the air is dry and clear, — just the day, one of the 
last of the season, probably. Are you strong 
enough to ramble, Tempe ? ” 

“ What did I tell you ? I got well at three o’clock 
in the afternoon of a Thursday, ten days ago. Can 
you and I dine early ? By the way, how do you 
like Sarah in Chloe’s place ? ” 

“ Not as well. Will you give me back Chloe 
again ? ” 

“ When you are married.” 

Virginia looked conscious again, but Tempe did 
not seem to notice it. 

Dinner over, at which they grew good-humored 
and commonplace, and at which Sarah, with con- 
siderable toss in her manners, waited, they were 
ready for the pines. Sarah asked Virginia’s per- 
mission to go into town to do some shopping, 
which was granted, and she left the house before 
them. 

In the wood Virginia began : 

“ If thou hast learned a truth which needs 
No school of long experience, that the world 
Is full of grief and misery, and hast seen 
Enough of all its sorrows, crimes and cares. 

To tire thee of it, enter this wild-wood — ” 

‘‘ Yes,” replied Tempe, her eyes intently fixed 
upon the shafts of a deep, straight vista of trees : 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


281 


** — Thou wilt find something here 
Of all that pained thee in the haunts of men, 

And made thee loathe thy life — ” 

“ I see Sebastian, Virginia.” 

“ Oh, Mr. Ford ! — what shall we do now ? ” 

Sit down within this little circle of stumps, or 
upon the moss ; he sees nothing. Let him come, 
and stumble over us ; he will not recognize us as 
differing from the stumps or moss.” 

He was coming directly towards them, and he 
pulled off his hat, bowing, till he reached the spot 
where they were. 

“ How is it that you are here, Tempe ? ” he said, 
“ I am beating up the country for you, alarmed.” 
walked here.” 

But what sent you ? tell me your caprice.” 

“ I wished to be with a friend.” 

“ Well, you have two beside you.” 

“ More than I need, then.” 

He looked at Virginia and smiled, and then 
threw himself down beside Tempe. 

** Curious old ballad in these trees ! Miss Brande, 
lend me your handkerchief, the moss scratches my 
face. Hark, now, to that enchanting cadence, ris- 
ing from, — heaven knows where, to die an airy 
death against our faces.” 

Virginia was about passing her handkerchief, 
when Tempe caught it, and said an affair of lace 
would not serve, and that moss was a suitable 
cushion, especially the red-eyed moss, such as 
.Sebastian was crushing with his elbows. Catho- 


282 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


lies, she believed, ought to be fond of discom- 
forts. 

“ What if I should grow to be fond of one of the 
discomforts of my daily life ? ” he answered. 

And that would be ? " Virginia asked. 

This little girl.” 

“ Sebastian has caught the trick of sarcasm from 
Uncle Argus,” said Tempe, “ but he is not so clever 
at it.” 

“ No,” he answered ; my everlasting melancholy 
steps in, and softens the blows ; Argus, being piti- 
less, cuts and comes again.” 

“ It is not strange that he should be infected 
with the gayety at our house,” said Tempe, — 
“that palace of mirth, wit, and pleasure. You 
know something about it, Virginia.” 

“ I have had happy moments there, at all events.” 

“ I too,” said Sebastian, “ free, blessed moments. 
But, Tempe, you did not tell me the reason you 
left home so early this morning.” 

“ I left on a subject connected, possibly, with 
the happy moments Virginia speaks of. Did you 
miss me ? ” 

“ You were lost,” he said vehemently, “ and then 
I discovered that I was capable of being alarmed 
about you. Neither Roxalana nor Chloe knew 
where you were, and Argus is in town. — Strange,” 
he half muttered to himself, “that I feel some 
weight clinging to me, dragging me on again ! 
What dream is it ? Will my powers be given away 
once more ? ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


283 


Virginia thought him an enigma. Tempe 
scarcely heard his last words. An indescribable 
expression of pleased pride changed her pale, list- 
less face ; she pushed her hair from it, as if she 
felt the change, and bent towards him. 

“ Little one,” he said, rising quickly, your er- 
rand done, will you come home with me ? ” 

“On the contrary, Mr. Ford,” interposed Vir- 
ginia, “go with us ; for Tempe has declared an 
intention of finishing the day with me.” 

“ I will visit you here. Miss Brande, if you will 
permit. Do you not like to receive in these beauti- 
ful still woods ? ” 

“ I shall not go back with you, Sebastian,” said 
Tempe, “ unless you choose to accept Virginia’s 
invitation.” 

“ Let us walk towards the river,” he said, “ and 
then I will take my leave of you.” 

“ I am too tired to move about,” said Tempe, 
provoked at his refusal to go with them ; but, 
curious to get an opinion of him from Virginia, she 
urged them to walk on, while she gathered cones 
from the trees around her. A moment and they 
were out of sight, which vexed her so much that 
she bit a cone to pieces, and decided that they 
should not find her when they returned to the 
spot. Accordingly she went to the house, and 
met Mr. Garfield, who had just arrived from 
his journey, he said, and had left Mr. Brande at 
the Forge. 

For a time Sebastian and Virginia were silent. 


284 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


The paths through which they wound were narrow 
and dusky ; no sound followed their steps in the 
soft, deep bed of needles, shed by the trees whose 
green tops kept their secret from the air, which 
hung over them like a silvery web. The occasion 
brought the impulse which seized her to confide 
her fears and hopes to the one beside her. 

‘‘ I should like to speak to you,” she exclaimed. 

Should you, to mCy as an individual ? Recol- 
lect that you never have so spoken.” 

“ Have I not ? ” she answered, surprised at his 
accent. 

‘‘ But — I am all attention ; please go on.” 

Feeling somewhat confused, and not quite so 
ready as she supposed with her subject, she said : 

Do you find Tempe changed ? Is she not inter- 
esting ? ” 

“ I do find her changed, and interesting ; is it of 
her you would speak ? ” 

“ No, no, of myself ; perhaps I shall bore you, 
though, Mr. Ford.” 

“ Once more, I am listening.” 

We must soon go back to Tempe, I suppose; 
another time may answer.” 

He took his watch from his pocket and showed 
it to her. 

“ Whenever you say so, of course we will return.” 

She stopped, glowing, trembling with excite- 
ment. A tree jutted into the path behind Sebas- 
tian ; he stopped there, resting his shoulders 
against it ; the gray and green shade over and 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


285 


around them brought out their faces in exquisite 
relief. For all her preoccupation, she was struck 
by the strange, winning beauty of the eyes fastened 
upon her, — the sensibility and power of the lips 
which seemed shut with the seal of an impenetrable 
sadness. He felt her breath coming and going, 
she stood so near him ; and a melody, wilder and 
sweeter than the cadence in the pines, rising, fall- 
ing, dying in their evergreen tops at the will of the 
embracing wind, swept over him. So near Vir- 
ginia, in this ancient, somber solitude, apart in its 
character from any association, or touch of human 
will and interest, dividing him from his experiences 
and knowledge, penetrated him with a new truth. 
In her existed what he had found in no woman be- 
fore. She ended the tumults, speculations and 
vague beliefs, which had sent him hither and 
thither. 

For an instant his powers of endurance were 
tested. He would have taken her in his arms, to 
mingle the current of his breath, blood, soul, life 
with hers ; then all would be understood, and this 
interview be but the beginning of a fair hope, prom- 
ising happiness from the text of youth, beauty 
and equal powers. 

He assumed, however, a still more careless atti- 
tude, looked into the sky and said : “ Time shall 

not pass till you have chosen to honor me with 
what you intended to say.” 

His black eyelashes drooped, his face expressed 
a concentrated repose. “ Heaven ! ” he muttered, 


286 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


** Tricked by opportunity again ! I mean, Miss 
Brande, that a man is drift-weed, merely. And 
here I am standing meekly against a tree, waiting 
for your confidence.” 

“ If drift- weed merely, I should have no confi- 
dences to tax you with.” 

“ Let us walk on,” he said abruptly. ‘‘ Do not 
reproach me with idle phrases.” 

They came in sight presently of a bend in the 
river, and passed an opening through which they 
caught a glimpse of Mr. Brande’s house. At that 
moment, as they slowly disappeared in the depths 
of the woods again, Mr. Garfield, sitting beside 
Tempe in the gay, comfortable parlor, was in the 
act of raising her little hand to his lips, and ex- 
changing a glance whose rays darted from that ex- 
tensive dominion the devil always shines upon. 
Virginia’s agitation rose again, but she began to 
speak of Mr. Garfield, his relation with her father, 
and with herself. Sebastian’s nostrils dilated oc- 
casionally, otherwise he made no demonstration, 
but he observed that she passed over the affair 
which Argus had spoken of, concerning Mr. Gar- 
field. Whether she intended to tell Sebastian of 
the last night’s scene, she hardly knew, but his si- 
lence and impassiveness led her on. She omitted 
no particular of it. 

When she said, “ He fell at my feet,” Sebastian 
caught her by the arm and moved her aside, 
clicked his fingers, and cried, “ Ghrist, my 
pistol ? ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 287 

Your eyes are terrible ; I am sorry I have told 
you, but I wanted your advice,” she said. 

Is there any more ? ” 

“ And then this morning,” she continued, when 
I could not find the note, I felt assailed by some 
unknown misfortune.” 

“ What note ? ” 

She paused, turned red, and pale again. 

“ The one from Argus. Do you know nothing 
of it ? Why, Tempe, to whom he intrusts nothing, 
brought me a second to-day.” 

“ And of the second one I know as little.” 

“ Tell me, Mr. Ford, how I can compel Mr. Car- 
field to forego the insane pursuit of myself ? ” 

He saw that she had not approached the matter 
she most wished to speak of. 

“ Ask Argus, Miss Brande.” 

“ Don’t you think it is quite late ? ” 

Nearly sunset.” 

Shall you always live in Kent ? ” 

“ It is my wish.” 

Have you no mother, or sister, or, or — love ? ” 

“ I have no family, but I do love a very beautiful^ 
sincere woman. I shall never marry her, though, 
and we may consider that subject disposed of.” 

Sebastian, if you mean to live at Temple House, 
be my brother. And now may I own that I love a 
beautiful and sincere man.” 

Argus ? ” 

Yes.” 

I will be no woman’s brother, not even Rox* 


288 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


alana’s. Shall I promise that, and live with you, 
Virginia ? Do you know that I am that man, who, 
if you were the wife of Argus, and I eating his 
bread, under his roof, also, — the moment, and the 
power, might come to both of us — to love'* 

“ Then,” said Virginia sadly, I must be the 
means of Argus losing his dear friend.” 

‘‘ Does Argus love you ? ” he asked sharply. 
How could she answer the question, when she 
dared not ask herself ? 

I do not know — yes. Should he not ? ” she re- 
plied. 

You contemplate marriage with Argus. I be- 
lieve you will find a pure and tranquil happiness 
with him.” 

If he loves me. Does he love me ? ” 

“Take him at his word, I entreat you. Now I 
am sure that you have come to the point. I am 
entirely at your service — with one warning. If 
you ask me to leave Temple House, I will not 
promise to.” 

“ Mr. Ford, will you return home with me.” 

“ If you insist.” 

“ Tempe will remain all night, possibly ; I can not 
count on her taking a message to Argus. How 
shall I arrange to meet him ? How shall I keep 
him and Mr. Garfield apart ? How shall I escape 
my father’s will ? I am afraid, terribly. Who is 
that in the Forge path ? ” 

“ The figure of a woman, hurrying on.” 

It is not Tempe ? ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


289 


No,” 

They hastened across the path, into the wood on 
the other side, and, finding no Tempe, returned in 
time to overtake Sarah, the one they saw in the 
path. She was belated, she said, in her shopping, 
but tea should be ready, as usual. 

“ So you changed your mind, Sebastian,” said 
Tempe, as Virginia entered the parlor with him. 
“ Or were you afraid of the woods, Virginia ? 
What possessed you to keep out so late ? ” 

It is late, I acknowledge,” Sebastian answered, 
** but we yielded to an influence which you resisted, 
it seems. Why did you not wait ? ” 

I got tired of the crickets, and having uprooted 
a whole tribe of toadstools, I thought I had better 
come back. I found Mr. Garfield.” 

“ Where is he ? ” asked Virginia. 

Gone to the office.” 

Sebastian looked at Tempe sternly ; it displeased 
him to hear her speak so familiarly of the man he 
had reason to detest. 

Come,” he said, ** let me take you home at 
once.” 

** You are absurd. I feel merry here. We shall 
have a banquet presently from dishes that are not 
cracked, and on a table-cloth that is not darned. 
Can't you endure a momentary pang of luxury, 
Sebastian ? lam another being outside the walls 
of our common jail. Can you not indulge me a 
little, and graciously smile at the change ? You 
think me morbid, irritable, feeble, beside our stately 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


2-90 

mother and friend, Roxalana. Observe me, I say, 
here.” 

“ Poor wretch ! what would you have ? " 

Everything that you have had, — the first and 
final pleasure and pain of every awakened feeling. 
I would even like to be drowned, Sebastian.” 

His olive-tinted face burned with an angry flush. 

“ You are mischievous out of your cage, Tempe ; 
it is not safe to let you escape for a moment.” 

Without heeding him, she went on : 

“ To begin with, I must have one, two, three 
worshipers.” 

“ Fire-worshipers don’t come into this part of 
the world ; nor incense-burners. I shall take care 
of the one, two, three worshipers you may select. 
Tempe, I had better marry you, and keep you in 
charge. I shall do so.” 

She sprang up as if struck a violent blow. 

“ Not unless I love you, — unless you love me,” 
she cried. 

“ It should happen — our marriage, without love 
on either side ; I have loved, and you are incapable 
of loving, — see, what a match it will be ! How 
interesting its problem ! You and me bound ! I 
like the idea. Do you ? ” 

He took her hands and made her stand up, close 
to him. 

‘‘ Do you ? ” he repeated. 

“ If we can go in the traces — tandem, sir. I 
would as lief marry you and break your heart as 
not. But how much heart did you bring to Kent ? ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


291 


“ Enough, my child, to match yours. Am I ac- 
cepted, Tempe ? ” 

Hush, you strange man,” said Virginia, they 
are coming. And at this moment Mr. Brande and 
Mr. Garfield entered. 

Ah, Mrs. Drake,” said Mr. Brande, advancing 
with outstretched hands, “ how long it is since 
you have been seen in my poor house.” 

Sebastian stared at Tempe ; he had never heard 
her called by her married name before. Virginia 
hastened to introduce him to her father. 

I am happy to welcome you here, sir,” he said. 
“ If I am correct, sir, I believe few people in Kent 
are honored with your visits ; I understand that you 
are a recluse, sir.” 

I indulge myself with much out-of-door life, 
but I enter no house,” Sebastian replied, in so 
strong a foreign accent that both Tempe and 
Virginia looked at him in surprise. Mr. Garfield 
having made him a slight bow, which was returned 
by one quite as foreign as the accent, remarked that 
it had taken quite a quantity of out-of-door life that 
afternoon to enable him to reach the house at all. 

“ I take great pleasure in the fine environs of 
this spot, Mr. Garfield. I have penetrated their 
concealed depths this day,” he replied. “ Do you 
find no attraction outside, or do you depend upon 
life within walls for your pleasure ? I know little of 
the domestic drama ; but I conclude that the most 
isolated, equable, in-door life contains much worth 
one’s study — at all hours.** 


292 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


In spite of his self-control, there was a menace in 
his eyes which Mr. Garfield saw and set down to 
the influence of Argus ; for it could never come 
into his thoughts that Virginia would betray him. 
She felt uncomfortable at Sebastian’s behavior — 
perplexed and haunted by a fear. 

“ Why this delay, daughter,” asked Mr. Brande, 
“ about tea ? ” 

“ Sarah has been in town all the afternoon,” 
answered Virginia. 

“ Gadding and gossiping.” 

** I dare say,” she answered, rising to leave the 
room. 

“ Let me go with you, Virginia,” begged Tempe ; 
“ I would like to look into the closets with you.” 

“ Come, then.” 

As soon as they were in the dining-room, Tempe 
seized hold of Virginia. 

“ Did you ever meet so strange a creature as 
Sebastian Ford. He so coolly thinks he can drive 
Providence like a team.” 

“ I like him very much.” 

“ I hate him ; I wish to torment his life out.” 

If you try, I shall have no doubt of your suc- 
cess. Now please be quiet ; I am both busy and 
weary. I never knew Sarah so behind time.” 

“ One minute more, Virginia,” begged Tempe, 
hugging her tightly. “ You never had the least 
faith in me, but have been patient, and I love you. 
I do, dear ; I am sorry I haven’t been a better 
friend, but I will be better — with you, though I 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


293 


can not be good ; goodness isn’t agreeable to me. 
Kiss me, and look straight into my face.” 

Virginia laughed and struggled ; Tempe’s gaze 
was direct, hard and questioning. 

“ There is something senseless about you, 
Tempe, but I have always taken it for granted that 
we were to keep together through life. Let me 
go.” 

Do — you — want — Sebastian to love you ? ” 

“ No.” 

“ Are — you — going — to marry Mr. Garfield, or be 
compelled to marry him ? ” 

Never.” 

Then attend to your supper. I have looked 
into the closet ! ” 

As supper was announced, Mr. Brande, in a slight 
fit of absent-mindedness, was observing to Mr. Car- 
field that he perceived a great change in that 
young woman, the niece of Gates ; she had grown 
five years older since he had last seen her. Mr. 
Garfield said she was deuced handsome, though 
rather slight in build, and rather skittish in man- 
ners. It was a relief to Sebastian to be called out. 
How was it possible for Virginia to exist in the at- 
mosphere of her father’s house ? he thought. And 
that she should have been drawn to Temple House, 
and on to loving Argus did not seem so strange to 
him now. He could not resist the double dream of 
to-day, while quietly courteous to Mr. Brande. 
The melody begun among the trees floated through 
his thoughts. Had there been no Argus, to-day 


294 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


would not have lost him Virginia, and gained him 
Tempe. Then an unwonted picture rose before 
him ; — a different air, the mass and blaze of tropi- 
cal foliage spreading along alluvial shores, filling 
deep, sinuous valleys, creeping up volcanic slopes ; 
a basin-like sea ; a range of iron-edged mountains; 
a dull, dark town, with low towers and balconies ; 
and everywhere himself, the moving figure in the 
landscape — kneeling before a woman, reclining be- 
side her, holding her in his arms, giving her flowers 
and fruits and jewels, and the ardent heart of a 
boy. 

Mr. Brande, somewhat to his self-concern, con- 
tinued to observe Tempe. She attracted him, and 
why she did at this moment, and had never before, 
was beyond his understanding. His eyes followed 
her movements ; when Sebastian, hat in hand, de- 
clared he must go, and again asked her if she were 
ready, they went up and down the black and white 
stripes of her dress, in and out the deep waves of 
her hair, down her ivory cheek, dropped on her lit- 
tle ears, her pearls of teeth, her slender hands, and 
it seemed to him that he was looking upon a kind 
of creature perfectly new to him. 

‘‘ Come, Sebastian,” and she approached him to 
whisper in his ear the message Virginia had given 
her for Argus. 

He stood before Virginia, not only to bid her 
good-night, but to give a farewell to the emotions 
which she had inspired, and his ideas of the future 
he had so suddenly devised. Whatever the future 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


295 


might prove, his act should now be one of sacri- 
fice. 

If Virginia had been gifted with that power of 
insight which some women have, she might have 
been agitated at the spectacle of a heroic soul in 
the act of self-abnegation, a heart denying it by a 
passionate struggle ; but she was not gifted with 
it, and, felt merely, when she looked into his hand- 
some eyes, a regret at losing a tie between herself 
and Argus. Sebastian bent over her hand, and 
pressed his lips upon it. Virginia never received 
so much in a caress, and never would again. 

The evening was wearing away rapidly. Vir- 
ginia fell into an impatience she could hardly con- 
trol. When and how could she hear from Argus ? 
She could not live through another day of suspense; 
if she did, something might come and thwart her 
purpose of leaving her father. She held some 
knitting in her hand, as an excuse for silence and 
inattention ; suddenly, and to her annoyance, 
Tempe affirmed that after all she must go home 
that evening, and claimed Virginia’s promise that 
Moses should drive her there. 

“ Oh, no, not by any means,” said Mr. Brande. 

If you must go — ” 

“ I will drive you down in my light wagon,” in- 
terrupted Mr. Garfield. 

Tempe, developed into a coquette by the espion- 
age of these men as rapidly as a weed developes 
in the sun and showers of April, looked from one 
to the other. 


296 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


“ I shall be most happy to accompany you 
home,” continued Mr. Brande ; “ either to walk, or 
take you in my chaise.” 

Virginia was lost in astonishment at her father’s 
proffer ; but was recalled from it by the low voice 
of Mr. Garfield, who had come near her, and taken 
away her knitting. He laughed wickedly as he 
said: “You see perfectly, Virginia, how potent 
and all-surprising is the effect of beauty. Your 
father is quite dazed, isn’t he ? Quite natural, I 
am sure : he is in the prime of life, and is violating 
nature’s intention as he is. Nature will revenge 
herself, and force at last the merest worm of a man 
to assert his rights. You agree with me ? ” 

“ How long, how long, my God,” she whispered, 
“ is this man to be my humiliation and disgrace ? ” 
“Which shall it be ?” he said, turning toTempe. 
“ Your humble servant, or our polite host ? ” 

He looked so gay and unconcerned, so hand- 
somely bold, so different from the sarcastic Argus, 
the immovable Sebastian, that Tempe admired 
him. Mr. Brande she was afraid of. 

“Tempe,” Virginia called, “I insist upon your 
staying ; it is childish to think of returning, when 
Mr. Ford has just gone with your message.” 

“ Daughter, Mrs. Drake must not be urged to 
stay against her will ; she knows best, certainly.” 

“ I will stay, Virginia, if you wish it so much,” 
Tempe said, after a little reflection. “ I am quite 
happy here, of course.” 

She took a seat on a low stool at Virginia’s feet, 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


297 


and looked affectionately at her. Mr. Brande 
thought the picture enticing ; his mouth relaxed in 
contemplating it. There was something richly 
soothing in the idea — the two handsome girls 
together ; he would like to keep them so, as his — 
one his faithful, sensible, correct daughter, the 
other his playful, piquant, pliant, toy-wife. All 
the while he looked at them he wondered at him- 
self ; what he had dreamed of so many years was, 
after all, approaching him in a legitimate way. 
But — why should he be so blest ? Providence was 
playing into his hands so freely and unmistakably 
that he was almost inclined to think that a belief 
in that power was not so much a moral necessity 
for the sake of training the soul for a hereafter life 
as it was an agreeable dependence on its aid to 
bring things about according to one’s desires in 
this world. Virginia being neither moralist, just 
now, nor heroine, would gladly have shaken Tempe 
and reproached her for affectation and silliness. 
As she could not do this, she coldly took up her 
knitting, and maintained an obstinate silence. Mr. 
Garfield, an acute observer, laughed again jovially 
from the depths of his full chest, and said, to him- 
self, “ Harlequin now signifies to the statue, that its 
pasteboard arm must descend on the intruder who 
attempts to pass the portals where the true lovers 
have entered.” 


298 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


CHAPTER XXX. 

S ebastian determined, on the way home, to 
find Argus at once, and open the subject 
pending between him and Virginia. For that 
purpose he went over the house in search of him. 
Though there was a haze of cigar smoke in the 
green room, and the glimmer of a candle under his 
bedroom door, he was not to be seen. Roxalana 
said that she had been left in the dark concerning 
the general dispersion of the family that day, and 
supposed if anything was to happen therefrom she 
should hear of it in good time. She was glad to 
know of Tempo’s visit to Virginia, and surprised 
that Sebastian should have gone to Mr. Brande’s. 
What did he think of the house ? 

“ I felt it to be a bad place.” 

“ Did you comprehend Virginia's position ? 
There is something mysterious and doubtful going 
on with her ; I have felt so for some time.” 

“ I think her life will be happier shortly. Roxa- 
lana, you are attached to her ? ” 

‘‘Very much ; she is a noble girl.” 

“ How is she noble ? ” 

“ You know she has been brought up by her 
father’s strict and narrow religious ideas, yet she is 
not self-righteous ; her father is also rich, yet her 
taste is simple, and the capacity for self-denial is 
not deadened in the least. Indeed, Sebastian, 
considering that she is conventionally pious, rich, 
and handsome, you must agree with me, and think 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


299 


it remarkable that she should possess traits which 
have nothing to do with these facts, and which 
please those who are also devoid of them ; like 
me, for instance. That you, who sometimes feel 
strangely filled with reverence, are handsome — 
though your nose is a trifle too large — and, at least 
have been rich, should not feel a sympathy for her, 
or liking, is strange.” 

“ Oh, my Roxalana, I have had such a day ! ” 

“ What have you been in pursuit of ? ” 

I was pursued, caught, and am extricating 
myself.” 

** When you said, a short time since, that you 
needed me, I feared you had become unhappy. It 
is not to be expected that you should find happi- 
ness in this dull house, and with us plain old peo- 
ple. But I had the impression, when you came 
here, that you had suffered so deeply from the 
causes which men believe happiness springs from, 
you would not seek them again ; in short, I reck- 
oned that, like Argus and myself, you had used up 
a portion of life — one lung say, and were contented 
to breathe through the other. You are a young 
man, and I have made a senseless mistake ; grand- 
mothers will err in their judgment, because their 
memories are short. You may be frank with 
me, tell me anything you choose. I am as silent 
as a sponge, and as absorbing ; when you are ready 
to wring out all you have confided, I shall still be 
the same.” 

He reflected whether he should deny himself the 


300 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


sad pleasure of confession ; whether they could 
not together keep a secret, which should remain in 
their minds, like a sword, the fall of which would 
cut asunder the destinies of the whole family — with 
Virginia added ! No. He would not add a bur- 
den to the mind, so passive, yet so unreasonable in 
suffering. After a short pause, during which she 
regarded him affectionately, he clasped her hand, 
and said : 

“ Did I say that I went for Tempe ? ” 

“ No ; if you did go, I thank you.” 

Her absence tormented me.” 

“ Do you say so, Sebastian ? Then the time has 
come for me to interfere with her ; I shall not per- 
mit her to disquiet you in the least. It is enough for 
me to be the witness of her vagaries. And yet, of 
late, I have been somewhat encouraged in regard 
to Tempe ; her temper has seemed milder, her feel- 
ings better. It is a sad thing to say, but my only 
child has never given me the means of a day’s 
happiness since she grew up.” 

“ But she will do so.” 

“ I should be thankful to be so convinced.” 

“ So I went after her, and found her, and then 
the something which has pursued me in the most 
stealthy manner for quite a period, as I now recog- 
nize, arrived at my very heart. I am agitated, — 
in conflict ; no, not in conflict — in a profound ex- 
altation, and I must give it a form in absolute, 
irremediable acts.” 

She did not understand him, and she said so. 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


301 


telling him to go on until she could, and remark- 
ing, mentally, that it would be a great relief to him 
to be rid of his puzzling thoughts. He continued : 

Could I ever do anything better than to take 
Tempe, if she will be so good, for my wife ?” 

Her eyes seemed turning to marble, they fixed 
upon him so immovably. He smiled, drew back, 
and said : 

** Answer.’* 

Drawling and hesitating, but making her words 
distinct, she replied : 

** Sebastian, you astound me ! Your mind is 
astray. It will be impossible for me to compre- 
hend this idea.” 

‘‘ What of that ? I do not comprehend one hour 
of my life. I am assailed, vanquished, changed, 
inspired, and directed, by sensations as vital and 
necessary as the Creator is ; if they are blind, like 
chance, what have I to do with that ? ” 

“ She is a child, and — a widow.” 

“A child no longer and the widowhood ” — Sebas- 
tian snapped his fingers. Roxalana laughed until 
her marble eyes glittered with tears ; the best thing 
she could do under the circumstances, for she was 
not prepared to decide on a question which she felt 
must be against the happiness of one or the other, 
whether she said “Yes,” or “No.” Tempe could 
not make Sebastian happy. Sebastian was per- 
haps necessary to the willful creature ! 

“ Why in the world,” she said, “ have you not 
conversed with Tempe on this subject ? It is not 


302 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


the fashion here, for parents to marry their child- 
ren. We marry ourselves in this country, and so 
the idea of family is disintegrated, like all our 
institutions.” 

“ How can you say this, Roxalana, when you 
have the example of Miss Brande before you ? 
She has not dared to banish the man her father 
desires her to marry. I still doubt whether she 
will marry — ” he stopped. 

‘‘ I should like to know what kind of man Cyrus 
Brande is ? He is a pest to that girl. Why don’t 
she run away from him ? I should be glad to in- 
form him of my opinion concerning his behavior 
to her.” 

“ And you would protect her if she came to you ? 
But we are running wide of our discussion. Have 
I your permission > By the way, I believe I have 
money enough to serve us all, after our present 
way of living.” 

Give me a little time to think over the matter ; 
probably I shall come to a reasonable conclusion.” 

My dear Roxalana, it is settled. Have no un- 
easiness ; it is good for me to be un — to have a 
purpose, I mean. Now, I will wait for Argus.” 


CHAPTER XXXI. 


RGUS,” said Sebastian, at the breakfast 



table the next morning, “ I must speak 
with you seriously.” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


303 


The devil ! Have you thought it necessary 
hitherto to approach me with a joke ? ” 

Roxalana, supposing Tempe was to be discussed, 
slipped out, and joined Chloe in the kitchen. 

** Marcy, Missis Gates,” said Chloe, “ what is the 
matter that should make you gum your eyes on 
that crack in the wall? Is it growing bigger? 
What ails you, Mrs. Gates ? ” 

“ Hush, Chloe, not a word. I have lost my 
pocket-handkerchief. I hardly know where I am.” 

“ I hope you haven’t lost anything else,” Chloe 
muttered. “ And as for not knowing where you 
are, that’s no new idee ; you never did know, once 
out of your chair. I hope and trust,” speaking 
louder, “ that you are not going to sign any deed ; 
I am against women’s signing deeds.” 

“ Chloe, you are idiotic this morning.” 

May be ; but the Lord made me.” 

This skirmish ended, Chloe went to work 
furiously, remarking that she was going to work 
off a dreadful dream she had had. Before night 
came she said that she had not dreamed for noth- 
ing, and that she knew it all along. 

Sebastian looked thoughtfully at Argus, and said 
he did not know how to venture with him. 

“ Serious, serious — mind,” Argus replied, with a 
cool smile. What if I begin the talk at the bot- 
tom instead of the top, and tell you the prowl I 
had last night ? I went to see Squire Perkins.” 

Who is that ? ” 

“ An old gentleman who lives at Boyd’s Hill ; he 


304 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


is a Justice of Peace, and can marry people. To* 
day, provided I send him word, he is to stick up 
the banns at Black’s Four Corners, — a small set- 
tlement, fifteen miles distant, consisting of a meet- 
ing-house, a grog-shop, and a saw-mill. By banns, 
I mean a proclamation of marriage.” 

“ Yes,” replied Sebastian, with surprise, but 
adopting the lead, “ I intended to open with Miss 
Brande’s message, though I see it is not necessary. 
But why banns ? they may bring you into trouble.” 

“ Because of the law ; and I expect a tempest 
thereby. What was her message ? ” 

Sebastian repeated it, and mentioned his visit to 
Mr. Brande's. 

“ I was prepared for it ; but whether she will 
have nerve enough to violate her own ideas of duty 
and propriety remains to be seen. Several days 
ago, Sebastian, after a considerable debate, I offered 
myself to Virginia, and her message I take as ac- 
ceptance.” 

“ You can act then, after all ? ” 

“ My pace has been slow towards this event ; 
partly for her sake, more for my own. It has been 
naturally retarded by my idiosyncracies, as you 
must know.” 

“ How will you dispose of them in the face of 
this change?” 

You may help me to manage them, and divert 
them from her observation.” 

Do you advise me to remain on that account ? ” 

Remain for my sake, and make me happier.” 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


305 


So I shall, and I shall marry Tempe.” 

*^What for?" 

** The various reasons which induce men to ex- 
periment with themselves. How else could I bear 
to contemplate Virginia as your wife ? She is too 
lovely for me, a man more properly her mate than 
you are, — to live under the same roof, an objectless, 
isolated being." 

Argus winced. 

** For more than three years, my boy, by precept 
and example, have I not inculcated the fact of age, 
poverty, and general unfitness ? " 

** I see it all," said Sebastian hotly, ** it is a case 
of infatuation. She is one of those intricate 
women, who make love an immolation and a spirit- 
ual ecstasy." 

I can’t explain it ; but be polite to me, or I’ll 
not warn you about Tempe. Yet why should I 
warn you, since you live in her presence ? " 

It was for me to warn you, my friend, and I 
have done so." 

** Having done so then, stay, Sebastian. Are you 
not a regular Spanish Don ? I understand your 
punctilio^ and can trust to it, for in you it is priti- 
ciple. In my late conclusions I have settled it that 
she should be surrounded by friendship. She is 
beautiful, and I can no longer resist her, — espe- 
cially since the ground which I thought steadfast 
has rolled from under me. I can bestow happiness 
on no woman ; ought I not then to allow the exist- 
ence of all other sentiments ? " 


3o6 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


** Fallacious idea, even stupid ! Do you imagine 
a woman will content herself with the shelter of a 
cool, shady tree, when she has chosen that a vine 
should entwine her ? It is your damnable coolness, 
your iron-bound nature, that dares you to venture 
on this step ; not because you understand women.” 

“ Shall I silence you with my experiences, at 
your age ? Or shall I laugh with that patience men 
feel, when those experiences are impossible ? ” 

“ You are a terrible man ; but if you are past 
loving, you are about to commit a crime.” 

Argus smiled bitterly. 

“ Who will heed it ? Since you know women so 
well, tell me, have you asked them if the world is 
peopled by love ? 

He rose and walked round the room, lifting here 
and there one of the chairs with a thumb and 
finger, and dropping it like a ball. 

“ I loved my wife with a different strength,” he 
continued, resuming his seat, because I was a 
boy. I lost her when I was a boy ; and if she is an 
immortal, as my moods sometimes intimate, I in- 
dulge the idea that I may be a boy again, — when 
we meet.” 

“ This is very sad,” said Sebastian mournfully. 

“ Sad ! Everything looks sad, when we go to 
the portcullis which hangs over the gateway be- 
tween us and the problem of existence, to get a 
glimpse into the labyrinth ! Happily, we can not 
penetrate it, and so turn back to be comfortable in 
our mean and narrow ways. I thought there was 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


307 


nothing better for me than the life you found me 
in, and was passively grateful for it ; I cumbered 
the ground for no one, allowing none to approach 
me with service, and, consequently burdening none 
with obligation. Sebastian, it passed away the 
night I sprained my shoulder on the White Flat, 
and laid you under an eternal obligation. There 
must have been witches abroad that night.” 

Sebastian shuddered, sprang up, and averted his 
face. 

“ The spell was broken then,” continued Argus, 

for both of us. My life has not been the same, 
and I regret that I did not sooner adapt myself to 
new circumstances.” 

Sebastian turned, and caught Argus under his 
elbows, and held him firmly, drawing his face close 
to his own furious, glittering eyes. 

‘‘ I knew it,” he cried, “ and you denied it ! Was 
she dead round my neck ? ” 

Argus nodded. 

“ She is out there on the White Flat.” 

I buried her. And now you would marry my 
niece. Well, I wish to marry Virginia, with whom 
you offer me — what ? ” 

The same^ if you could promise us that we 
should be left in everlasting rest together.” 

Argus turned deadly pale, and said, “It will not 
profit us to talk farther. / am, in fact, carried 
beyond myself.” 

Sebastian extended his hand to Argus in extreme 
agitation, and Argus taking it, continued: “ Some- 


3o8 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


thing beyond me, as I said, urges me on with you. 
Once more, Sebastian, I love you, and the thought 
of parting with you is not to be borne.” 

“ Things must be as I propose then, Argus. By 
my soul I love you, also. Yes, by my faithless, lost 
soul, with or without the millstone round my neck, 
or any purpose or desire in my heart, I love you, 
and recognize you as my master.” 

Not so bad as that,” said Argus gently. But 
let me hope I have conquered.” 


CHAPTER XXXII. 

M at SUTCLIFF, going up the alley towards 
home, saw a woman flitting from his door, and 
Mary standing by it, apparently wrenching the 
handle off. 

Oh, Mat ! ” she cried, when he stepped across 
the threshold, “ did you ever ? ” 

Who is in fits now ? Let the door alone, and 
don’t be jiggery.’* 

‘‘ Did you see Mrs. Bayley ? ” 

I saw petticoats scudding.” 

“Well, says she to me, as I was sitting by the 
table darning stockings — your blue ones, and every 
mite of color is going to wash out of them, for the 
rinsing water was as blue as anything — coming in 
out of breath, says she, ‘ Have you heard the story 
that’s going round like wildfire, Mrs. Sutcliffe ? ’ 
‘ No,’ says I, ‘ I’m attending to my own business.’ 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


309 

‘ So you be,’ says she, * but I'm bound to tell it 
to you, ’cause I know you have friends inter- 
ested, and ’cause I want to know whether you 
believe it.’ It is the worst thing I ever heard in 
my life. Mat.” 

“ Has Clark’s sow ate up her pigs again ? Hold 
on a bit, I want to light my pipe. Let me know 
when you get to the middle of next week, and I’ll 
clap on my ears.” 

She said they said that Mr. Brande’s Sarah, 
the gal that hands the vittles, said yesterday at Mrs. 
Paulding’s the milliner’s, that she was getting most 
tired of the state of affairs up at the Forge : that 
the very night before, Virginia Brande’s beau, Mr. 
Garfield, was in her very bedroom over an hour ; 
and she, Sarah knew, was in her night-clothes; and 
that wasn’t all she could tell : and that Argus Gates 
couldn’t be aware what he was after.” 

Mat’s pipe fell on the floor, and he stamped it 
into powder. 

“ Toad, adder, skunk, bitch ! ” he yelled. ** Why 
didn’t some of the Christians there choke her, and 
throw her into the well ? ” 

“ You mean Sarah. Mrs. Bayley said they all 
believed the story ; that they had been expecting 
it. If something wasn’t wrong, why hadn’t Mr. 
Garfield married her before ? She was no chicken; 
and they guessed she had been ready some time. 
Says she, Mrs. Bayley, * There wasn’t a store on 
Main Street that hadn’t the whole particulars by 
six o’clock yesterday afternoon ; they do say, too, 


310 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


that the church will have to look into it.’ I know 
there is not a word of truth in it ; and I said so to 
Mrs. Bayley." 

“ There is something in it, half on’t may be true; 
if that hound did get into Miss Brande’s room, you 
may be sure he went out with a yelp. But blarsted 
if I can puzzle out how she has found out any- 
thing about Argus Gates.” 

** What is there to know ? ” 

I guess I’ll go right up to the Capen, and tell 
him this.” 

Why — why should you tell him V* 

** If you knew, you’d be returning Mrs. Bayley’s 
kindness in ten minutes.” 

I can guess.” 

** Guess.” 

“ Argus Gates has a notion of courting Virginia 
Brande ; she has courted him long enough. But 
I am for it. Mat, and I wish I could help her. 
She has always demeaned herself to me beauti- 
ful, and made me feel that I was as good as any- 
body.” 

“ That’s so ; and you have guessed it. I carried 
a billet to her for the Capen, and I am afraid I 
kinder acted like a noodle, by giving it to her afore 
folks, and so brought on a crisis, as they call it. 
Keep dark now; it will all come out soon, — right 
side up, with care, glass. What would you do, if 
was me ? ” 

“ If I was you, after what you have told me, I’d 
tend strictly to the business of picking oakum. 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


3 ” 


You can make good, straight rope-yarn, but you 
get everything else you undertake into knots.” 

Hang it, I do kinder feel as if my tail was be- 
tween my legs.” 

“ Go right off, and tell the whole thing to Gates. 
I’ll look out of the window, and out of doors; be- 
sides, I am going up to Cuff & Smith’s after 
pearl-ash, I may see how the wind blows towards 
the Forge. It will be a flaw in Argus if he marries 
her after this. A girl never gets rid of such a smut 
on her : the little children now growing up, and 
hearing this story, will remember it whenever they 
see her, if she lives to be a hundred years old and 
behaves like an angel. If she should have children, 
the story will always be mentioned, when they are 
mentioned.” 

“ Damned, brutal, stinking hole of a Kent ! ” 
yelled Mat again ; “ I wish I had the tying of a stone 
round your neck. I’d sink ye a hundred fathoms in 
hell ! ” 

Some other town would come up in its place, 
just like it. Didn’t that missionary say, who 
preached in the hall, for ten cents a ticket, that 
human nature in the Burmese Empire was much 
like the human nature of our own enlightened New 
England.” 

“ Then I guess the missionaries had better stay 
to home ; for, 'pears to me, human nature’s too 
much for ’em.” 

And Mat turned on his heels, and went after Ar- 
gus. Going in at the kitchen door, he found a man 


312 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


waiting from the Forge, and talking with Chloe. 
Tempe had written a note to inform her mother 
that she meant to stay a day or two longer, and re- 
quested that some articles of dress should be sent 
her. When Mat heard this, he felt still more un- 
easy ; it seemed to him that he must follow the man 
to Mr. Brande’s house, drag out Mr. Garfield, pound 
him to death, and bring away Tempe, and Virginia, 
too. If it wasn’t a State’s prison offense, he’d cer- 
tainly cripple Brande by burning his house, and the 
Forge buildings. He wished Kent was in Mr. 
Ford’s country — South America — where there were 
chances of an earthquake, and the cunning control 
and power of the priest. If he could only buy a 
priest then things could be managed. “ Chloe,” he 
said, solemnly and reproachfully, “ in the Lord’s 
name, why did you ever leave your missey ? ” 
“’Twas in the Lord’s name that I did leave I 
suppose,” she answered crossly. “ What did you 
come for ? ” 

“ To see the Capen ; where is he ? ” 

“ Upstairs with missis ; they are looking at the 
old, empty, south rooms.” 

“ Be they ? Well, they must stop. Have you 
heard anything to-day ? ” 

“ There, there — didn’t I say so ? I have felt it 
in my bones.” 

“ Your bones are in a bad way, then*” 

He ran from the door to the fireplace, half doub- 
ling his body, spit furiously into the fire, and whis- 
pered fiercely : 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


313 


‘‘ There’s a vile, beastly, rotten lie spread all over 
town, about your missey. I wouldn’t tell ye if I 
didn’t know that some fool would surprise ye worse, 
and make ye show off against your will.” 

Her dry mouth opened and shut a dozen times 
before she could speak — then she seized him, and 
shook him. 

Who dares ? ” she said. “ Does she know it is 
out ? Get Tempe home. Do you want the Capen 
to know it ? I say you must go for Tempe, or there 
will be two of them.’’ 

She fell back into a chair, and wrung her hands 
silently ; her face was wrinkled and knit with pain. 
Mat looked at her in astonishment and disgust. 

Blarsted if this ere sister don’t believe it against 
her missey.'* 

“ How did it get out out ? ” she asked, in a faint 
voice. 

“ Get out,” he repeated, indignantly, “ what do 
you mean by that face ? Put on a different one. 
Would you insult one of the best girls alive ? This 
comes from your ideas of total depravity. Or is it 
something worse ? Never was so disappointed in 
anybody as I am in you.” 

“ What do you mean by coming here to scare me 
half to death with a lot of nonsense ? ” 

You’ll find no nonsense here.” 

In a few words he told her the story, and then 
sent her upstairs for Argus. 

When Mat had finished his relation, Argus imme- 
diately repeated it to Roxalana ; they were both en- 


314 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


tirely unmoved by it. If it were true, — and Argus, 
from his knowledge of Mr. Garfield, thought there 
might be foundation for the report, it was only a 
reason for more haste in their marriage. Virginia 
must be removed from that house. He told Roxa- 
lana his own story now, she listened to it with calm 
approval, and understood him thoroughly. 

“ Between us all,” she said, “ I believe she will 
be happy. A new happiness in this house, Argus, 
I never again expected.” 

“ It is to come, Roxalana, from the cloud you 
wrapped us all in. The chill wind from it, and its 
threatening darkness, drove me from my position.” 

Must I learn at this late period, that good comes 
from evil ? But Argus, no time must be lost. I 
advise you to send for Virginia at once. She shall 
stay under my wing ; no legal power can take her 
away.” 

Is she not infirm of will ? ” 

“ Through her love and duty only. But she 
must be made to understand that she has a right 
to happiness. However, she has firmly loved you 
for years.” 

“ How sly you woman are — all alike ! Why did 
you not teach her that I was worthless ? You know 
that I can only shine as your companion ! Have 
you ever had the mercy and compassion to view me 
imaginatively, as the husband of Virginia Brande ?” 

“ I never was gifted with imagination, Argus. 
Upon what a bed of thorns should I have lived, had 
it been the case. Do not delay any longer. Shall 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


315 


I send Chloe ? and Tempe is there. Keep this 
story from Sebastian at present.” 

*‘Ah, Sebastian, Tempe, — yes. What do you 
think of his plan, for you know it.” 

I do not think, and do not intend to think ; an 
avenue is opened there which I shall close my eyes 
upon — both now and hereafter.” 

Argus chuckled, and accused her of the endeavor 
to wash her hands of a bad business. It was evi- 
dent that he was in better spirits. 

An hour or so, and Chloe had reached the Forge. 
It was dusk when she came in sight of the walls of 
the house — as clean and white as those of a sepul- 
chre. She shook her fist at them. 

The Indian has got here first this time,” she 
muttered ; but I suppose Chloe will be along, if 
I wait a few minutes for her.” 

She went into the premises by a gate in the wall 
at the back of the stables, and put her head in one 
of the doors partly open. 

‘‘ Oh, Moses,” she said carelessly, I thought I 
should find you milking. That’s Mossy, ain’t it ? 
S’pose she knows me ? Koh, Mossy, do you 
’member ? She shakes her horns ; she has for- 
gotten me. Chloe is coming ! Koh, Koh ! there, 
Moses, she does know me. How much milk does 
she give ? ” 

Nigh on to four quarts. You are quite a 
stranger, Chloe.” 

“ So dreadful busy doing nothing, is the reason. 
How’s the family ? Going on the same ? ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


316 

** I don’t know but they be, and I don’t know as 
they be ; me and Sarah have quit.” 

“ Marcy, I haven’t heard a word about it.” 

“ There’s plenty of news flying in the air ; but it 
is none of my business, and nothing to me.” 

“ I hope there’s no bad news, Moses.” 

Go in, Chloe, may be you will find out from 
Martha what’s to do ; I can’t make head nor tail 
on it. Somebody has been lying, or the world is 
so bad I wish I hadn’t been born.” 

“ The Lord reigns, Moses.” 

“ I pray accordingly. But it seems to me some- 
times, that if I turned my prayers the other way, 
hind side afore, as it were, I should get more at- 
tention.” 

Chloe proceeded up the yard, looking furtively 
at the windows, and hoping to get into^ the house 
without meeting Sarah, or Martha. From what 
Moses had said, it was evident enough that the 
scandal had widely spread ; was known to the ser- 
vants and all the workmen at the Forge ; known 
to everybody, except the actors, and Mr. Brande. 
No one saw her enter the house. She passed the 
dining-room door and heard the rattle of dishes 
(Sarah was there arranging the tea-table probably), 
and passed the parlor doors intently listening. 
Mr. Garfield was inside, and with him Tempe. 
She heard Tempe’s gay laugh, and Mr. Garfield’s 
rapid utterance. Like a cat she sped upstairs, 
and entered Virginia’s chamber without knocking. 
Virginia was at the glass adjusting her dress. 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


317 


** Oh, Chloe,” she cried, “ you have brought me 
good news, I am sure ! ” 

“ I got up here without anybody’s seeing me,” 
Chloe answered, searching her countenance. 

“ That’s right.” 

Is it?” 

“ Were you not sent directly to me ? ” 

‘‘Yes ; but I think I has brought you no news 
to please you concisely ; but something bad for 
you to hear.” 

Virginia dropped into a chair, extended her 
hand, and Chloe handed her the note Argus had 
written. She drew a breath of relief as she read, 
for there was no hint of Chloe’s mystery ; he sim- 
ply asked her to return with Chloe as far as the 
pines, and meet him there. She raised her eyes to 
Chloe, and saw she was closely examined. 

“Well, Chloe,” she asked, with impatience, “there 
is no time to lose.” 

“ So Missis Gates said.” 

“ You seem to understand present affairs. Who 
told you ? ” 

“ I had to be told.” 

“ There must be just so many confidants, I sup- 
pose, when things get to such a pass as this, or 
what would become of the romance ? ” 

“ Tempe is wanted, too.” 

“ Now ^ — to go with us ? ” 

“ This is no place for the like of her.” 

“ Come, old Chloe, — haven’t you teased me 
enough with your oracleship ? ” 


3i8 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


“ Missey, Sarah made a world of mischief in 
Kent the other day. I must say she did her work 
so well I almost think she was hired to do it ; 
else she has a grudge against some of you.” 

Virginia, struck with a true apprehension of the 
case, turned away from Chloe, caught at a corner 
of the dressing-table for something to steady her- 
self by, and signed to Chloe to go on. 

“ Don’t you think she peeked through the key- 
hole? I do ; ’cause she mentioned particulars she 
must have seen, when that rascal was in here^ an 
hour or more, that night, and you undressed.” 

Is it because of this, that Roxalana sent me 
word there must be no delay ? ” 

Yes, indeed ; they do feel a storm brewing. 
It is all over the town, and many of your friends 
believe it. Some pity you.” 

Virginia laughed wildly, and clenched her hand 
upon the note. 

“ They sent you to me, thinking I must be taken 
away ? ” 

Yes, missey. Had you better go ? Isn’t one 
place as good as another, now ? ” 

Chloe, still possessed by her Indian demon, pro- 
bably, looked severe and spoke coldly. 

“ Best Argus ! ” exclaimed Virginia, kissing the 
crumpled paper, so much devotion shining in her 
pale face, so much tenderness filling her eyes, that 
Chloe was pierced as with a sword. “ And Roxa- 
lana, generous friend, strong soul ! So will I at 
last be generous and strong. Help me. Lord ! ” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


319 


Shutting the note in both her hands, she raised 
them towards heaven, and Chloe was again trans- 
fixed. 

“ Oh, missey,” she cried, “ I do see that it is all 
right with you. I — " 

She was struck dumb by Virginia’s slow uprising 
from her chair ; she looked so tall and terrible 
that it seemed to Chloe that she would touch the 
ceiling, and spread all over it like an avenging 
spirit. 

“ Say no more, Chloe. I will write a line to 
Captain Gates, and you may take it at once. Do 
not come to me again." 

Dear Argus," she scribbled, the story is part- 
ly true ; but I doubt whether I should ever have 
told it to you. We must wait, now, till it clears 
itself up for us, without your interference. Tell 
Roxalana I am quite ready to live in her service. 
Keep Mr. Ford from the knowledge that the rumor 
is abroad, and send for Tempe to-morrow." 

Folding the note, she gave it, unsealed, to Chloe, 
and pointed to the door : and Chloe did not dare 
to disobey. She stopped on the door-mat an in- 
stant, while putting it in her pocket, and whispered 
to herself that she had found the best chance she 
ever had in her life to despise Chloe ; and she reck- 
oned she would make the most of it. She also 
paused before the dining-room door, and it opened; 
she and Sarah found themselves face to face. A 
swift impulse seized Chloe ; she pushed Sarah back 
into the room, kicked the door behind them, and 


320 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


with wiry hands set her into the depths of one of 
the stuffed chairs, and stood over her. 

I shan’t box yours ears yet,” she hissed to the 
amazed helpless girl, “ but I shall^ and maybe cut 
out your tongue. I can do it, for the knives are 
sharp here. What devil possessed you to bring 
this dreadful trouble on missey ? And Moses is 
decent man enough to give you the sack, is he ? 
Glory for that ! ” 

And shaking the breath out of her, Chloe asked 
her why she didn’t answer. 

“ I had a mind to do it, you black, evil thing ; I 
guess I’ve come up with them. That Mr. Garfield 
always put me down ; he called me a servant over 
and over again. As for Miss Virginia, we shall see 
if my lady, with her ten silk dresses, and her ten 
breastpins, will flaunt it quite so high. Let me 
alone ; let me get up. He was in her bedroom, — I 
saw him go in, and come out ; and he stayed in 
there. He was begging like a dog for something, 
and—” 

Chloe would not allow her to go on, but fell upon 
her with fury, striking her in the face with all the 
strength she had. 

“You may kill me,” gasped Sarah, “ but I won’t 
take back a word ; and I’ll have you taken up for 
this,” 

Mr. Brande opened the door as Chloe's rage had 
exhausted itself, and Sarah was half-insensible with 
the stinging blows she had received. He stood 
amazed at the sight, but even then his ear caught 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


321 


the sound of laughter and conversation going on 
between Tempe and Mr. Garfield, and it disturbed 
him. 

“ Why, Chloe,” he said presently, “ what in the 
world does this mean ? Can’t you come on a visit, 
even, to your old home, without bringing a surplus 
of the old Adam.” 

“ It means, sir, that the old Adam is too much 
for men, when I meet him in your premises.” 

Sarah tried to get out of the chair, with loud 
‘‘ Ohs.” 

Stay where you are,” said Chloe, “ or I’ll pound 
your legs to jelly.” 

In spite of himself, Mr. Brande could hardly help 
a smile at Sarah’s plight and Chloe’s victorous atti- 
tude. 

^‘You have got to own,” continued Chloe, “be- 
fore you get out of that chair, what you have said 
about Missey Brande.” 

“ I’ve said the truth,” she answered sullenly. 

“ Chloe,” said Mr. Brande hastily, “ I request you 
to let Sarah go. She is hardly presentable just 
now ; the supper hour is at hand, and we are en- 
tirely unaccustomed to such disturbance.” 

“ Such disturbance ! Yes. Very well, sir. Go, 
Sarah, I can give the particulars to Mr. Brande.” 

Sarah rushed, not only from the room but the 
house, and did not return. 

Within a month she married a Scotch workman, 
one of the Forge hands, whom, for politic reasons, 
Mr. Brande did not discharge afterwards. She 


322 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


sent an invitation to Moses to come to her wedding, 
written on a card ornamented with yellow doves, and 
blue roses. Moses wrapped it in a piece of news- 
paper, and put it away as an eternal remembrance 
of the deceitfulness of females. 

Mr. Brand, instead of being angry when Chloe 
related what Sarah had done, fell into a fit of deep 
musing. She waited to hear something from him ; 
not a word came. His usual restless hands and 
slippery eyes were motionless. She never saw his 
head hang so before ; his eyes seemed to be fixed 
upon something within his breast, and his chin 
rested upon it. The French clock on the mantel- 
piece ticked, and ran down. Once, she recollected, 
the pendulum would not have had a minute’s rest ; 
now he did not notice its silence. The fire was 
disarranged, its embers fell against the fender, and 
he did not rise with the old alacrity to replace them 
over the dogs. An indescribable change had taken 
place in that house since she had been there ; 
there was some subtle disorder prevailing which she 
could not reason upon, but wondered whether it was 
owing to him. At last remembering the necessity 
of returning she said : “ I believe my duty is done, 
Mr. Brande.” 

“ Yes,” he replied absently, “ you can go. I will 
attend to it. And, Chloe, — you had better come 
back, hadn’t you ? don’t she like you ? ” 

“ I am afraid, sir, I have made missey angry.” 

“ Missey ! I mean — oh, — ah ; yes, you can go.” 

And he waved her out after the old fashion. 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


323 


Argus saw her speeding along the path alone, and 
said, when she came up to him : “ It is not lucky 
for me, — the Forge path ; I have half a mind to 
send you back.” 

“ Not to-night. Captain. I have an answer, and 
I know missey so well that I promise you she wishes 
to hear a word from nobody this night.” 

“ Now for my personal venture,” he muttered as 
they went back to Temple House. 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 

HE source of Mr. Brande’s reverie was an as- 



1 tonished admiration for Mr. Carfield, which 
Chloe’s revelation had excited. The boldness, 
resolution, and satanic ingenuity of his plan, which 
Mr. Brande decided was a meditated one, and that 
Sarah had merely acted up to her instructions, gave 
him a pang of envy, for he felt that in the capacity 
for such conduct there must be also the capacity 
for a bold, free, profound, conscienceless enjoy- 
ment, — the very kind of enjoyment he could best 
appreciate, and was too cowardly to attain. He 
thought that if he had been present then he should 
have turned Mr. Carfield out of doors, but he had 
no impulse to do so now, even with the tones of his 
forcible voice in hearing. As for the story, it must 
be explained at the right moment. So far as Kent 
was concerned, it should be put down in some high- 
handed way ; he would throw it in the teeth of the 


324 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


society which he represented, or ride over their 
necks with it. With Virginia two ways were open ; 
one was to consider her irretrievably committed, 
the other was to break the engagement publicly, 
which had never existed except between himself 
and Mr. Garfield. In the latter case a hundred 
thousand dollars would vanish from his grasp, and 
a certain exposure take place, as mysteriously 
brought about as this miserable business had been. 
Tempe’s gay laugh rose again over his cogitations. 
Well, he would wait a little ; he was quite used to 
waiting in an uncertain, threatening atmosphere. 
An inexplicable thought, reason, or sensation sent 
him creeping upstairs to stand before Virginia’s 
door, and examine the panels and the lock like a 
detective ; he even laid his hand on the knob, but 
hearing a movement within he turned away and 
went back into the dining-room again. He found 
Martha there, who had come to tell him that Sarah 
had gone, leaving word that it was for good. He 
replied with his usual suavity, that her behavior 
carried its punishment, and gave instructions con- 
cerning another servant whom Martha had in the 
kitchen. He said that he should consider himself 
indebted to her if she could arrange domestic affairs, 
so that no change should be apparent. Martha was 
overcome by his confidential condescension, and 
promised to do her best. 

“ It will all blow over,” she commented, bustling 
back to her work ; “ it’s stuff and nonsense to make 
a rumpus about a mess of talk. Why, come mur- 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


325 


der, arson, even, we have to get three meals a day 
for them that does it, and them that doesn’t.” 

All the long evening, and they sat up late, as if 
some secret bond held them together, Mr. Brande 
was divided in his mental scrutiny. He tried to 
guess the state of Virginia’s mind, — whether she 
remembered the insult continually, either in sorrow 
or anger ; whether it had broken the barriers of 
conventionality between her and Mr. Garfield, for 
hate, or love and forgiveness. He watched Tempe’s 
careless flirtation with Mr. Garfield, and speculated 
upon her probable conduct under the same circum- 
stances with — himself. His head reeled at this 
thought. What possessed him ? 

“ Virginia,” he called, putting down a book he 
had not read, “ would it not be pleasant for you to 
drive about town to-morrow, with Mrs. Drake, in the 
new barouche ? ” 

She looked up from her inseparable knitting, and 
met his eye. He frowned involuntarily in the di- 
rection of Mr. Garfield ; an emotion of regret and 
sympathy suddenly flitted into his face, and she 
understood that he knew all about it ; and how like 
her calm, reasonable father it was — to remain so 
quietly in the room with that wretch ! 

Her face was sad and fatigued ; its expression 
made him resolve vaguely to look over his accounts 
the next day, and think about kicking Garfield 
out. 

“ Why not ? ” cried Mr. Garfield ; “ I should like 
to go, too.” 


326 


■ TEMPLE HOUSE. 


To-morrow I must go home,” Tempo inter- 
posed. 

“To-morrow Tempo must go home,” echoed 
Virginia. 

“ But,” said Tempo, “ I do not wish to go. I like 
this house immensely ; it is delightful. For two 
days I have ceased to think there is an ugly, de- 
cayed old house a couple of miles distant.” 

Mr. Brande felt hot about the heart ; he started, 
and went over to Tempo, seating himself be- 
side her, and looked at her with a goat-like fond- 
ness. 

“ I thought so,” said Mr. Garfield mischievously. 
“ I feel flattered for my portion in your good opin- 
ion.” 

“ Mr. Brande leaned towards Tempo, and said in 
a low tone, “ Won’t you stay another day, — even at 
the risk of flattering me ^ — and perhaps spoiling me 
for a man of business ? ” 

Virginia overheard this and felt painfully con- 
fused. 

“ Yes,” continued Mr. Garfield gaily, “ this is a 
pleasant home, Mrs. Drake ; I intend to remain 
here forever.” 

How Mr. Brande desired to make an answer 
that would be a lesson, an intimation, and explana- 
tion, which would include them all ! Lacking sub- 
tlety, however, he could only avail himself of the 
commonplace. 

“ Mrs. Drake knows that I should be proud to 
have her good opinion of anything in my posses- 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


327 


sion. I think, however, another charm might be 
added to this spot." 

“ If anything agreeable could be added, — when 
Mr. Garfield is here," she said, looking at Virginia. 
“ How came you to have so grand and stately a 
daughter, Mr. Brande ? " 

“ Don’t you like the grand and stately ? " 

The accent of his voice made her look round 
at him ; her eyes opened wildly at the declaration 
in his. 

Don’t you, my dear ?’’ he whispered, growing 
violently red, his blood tingling like needles all 
over him. 

She was struck dumb, and remained so motion- 
less with her fixed eyes, that he concluded she was 
purely receptive. He must own this little pet, 
sooner or later, and he would indulge her as no 
wife had ever been indulged ; but she must — how- 
ever, this was not the moment, or the place to 
make arrangements ; he would wait. 

You are fond of reading, I think ?" he asked, 
taking up a book and fluttering the leaves. She 
sighed with sheer surprise, and looking round to 
rouse herself, saw Mr. Garfield at the back of Vir- 
ginia's chair, but did not hear what he was saying. 
She set her face towards Mr. Brande, and said 
abruptly, “ I am fond of nothing." 

He ventured to pinch her cheek with his cold 
pointed fingers, and the touch of the velvet flesh 
gave him a terrible shock ; but he managed to 
offer a superior smile, and whisper, “ I knew you 


328 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 


would say all those petulant things, but I like 
them.” 

“ Virginia,” said Mr. Garfield, “ do you see what 
an ass your father is making of himself with that 
imp ? ” 

Her head fell still lower over her work, but she 
made no reply. 

“ Do you hear me ? This weak nonsense must 
be stopped before she utterly bewitches him. It is 
a frightful joke, isn’t it ? ” 

She raised her hunted, despairing eyes, and said, 
“ Have you not learned yet that he always gains 
his wishes ? Why zxt, you still here ? ” 

“ Stuff.” 

“ If he decides to, he will marry her. The bril- 
liant, flame-loving, foolish little moth will yield to 
the temptations of the position I despise, and can 
not escape from.” 

He shrugged his shoulders, and bent still nearer ; 
she felt his breath against her face. Her hands 
shook so that the stitches dropped from her 
needles ; drops of sweat burst out of her forehead, 
her lips parted, her teeth were set together, and 
she was ghastly white. 

“ I am afraid,” was her mental cry, there is no 
God ! I hate my life.” 

Mr. Garfield watched her closely. 

Suddenly she rose, and stood for an instant in a 
listening attitude. 

“ Yes^ there is! ” she cried in a loud voice. 

They heard a murmur outside in the hall ; the 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


329 


outer door was closed with a crash, the inner door 
flew open, and Sebastian Ford came in. 

I found what I missed in the pines,” he said 
significantly, addressing Virginia, and touching 
his waistband. It was impossible for her to reply ; 
a slight hysterical noise came through her lips, 
and she could not not advance towards him a step. 
Her arms were like leaden weights to her ; only 
by fixing her steadfast gaze upon his face could 
she keep her footing. There was that in his bear- 
ing which prevented ordinary salutation. Upon 
his entrance Mr. Brande and Tempe rose involun- 
tarily, and the former would perhaps have come to 
his fatuous speech if Tempe had not laid a silence- 
compelling pressure upon his arm. Mr. Garfield 
turned his hardest, haughtiest face towards him. 

We have been favored, Mr. Ford, with no speci- 
men of the Spanish melodrama till now. It is 
much of an exotic ; still we thank you for this fine 
tableau, — a la brigand — ” 

“ It suits the occasion, and our necessity. I 
have been down in Kent to-day, hearing in the 
most public places, among the most common men, 
of your vile intrusion at midnight, into the room 
of Miss Brande — who is about to become the wife 
of my friend, Argus Gates. Sir, you must now 
make an explanation with your pen, which I shall 
in these places, and among these men, make public. 
Sir, will you do so ? ” 

Your threat is — what, a pistol ? ” 

I will kill you — but not here.” 


330 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


‘‘ The principal declines, does he, — and his sec- 
ond offers to do the work ? " 

Sebastian smiled in so ugly a manner that Tempe 
clasped her hands and said, “Oh!” and Mr. 
Brande let his book fall. 

“ Argus IS one with his race here. I have killed 
a man. Moreover, he is ignorant of my wish, and 
of my intention.” 

“ Sebastian^"' murmured Virginia, in a faint, deli- 
cious, cooing voice, a heavenly smile softening her 
anguished face. 

At its sound Mr. Garfield grew savage. 

“ She is to be my wife,” he said. 

Mr. Brande was foolish enough to give a slight 
nod at Sebastian, for which Tempe struck his 
mouth with the back of her hand ; he made no 
further demonstration, though Mr. Garfield imme- 
diately appealed to him to say whether the length 
of the engagement which Virginia had tacitly per- 
mitted did not warrant the sacredness of his 
claim. 

“You must lose her, sir,” said Sebastian. 

“ A duel, of course, will lose her to me. And 
are you so blind to our customs as to think that 
my refusing to fight you will brand me as coward- 
ly 1 ” asked Mr. Garfield. 

“ You are not a coward, except with women ; 
but if you will not fight me, I will assassinate you. 
My life is at the service of my friend. Gome, sir, 
I will wait no longer. This parlor is no duelling 
ground, but murder may be committed anywhere.” 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


331 


His coolness, his assurance was terrible ; the 
menace in his voice, the deadly expression in his 
eye, left Mr. Garfield in no doubt. But how was 
it possible to yield Virginia to the demand of this 
devil ? Absolutely speaking, he was not afraid of 
Sebastian, excepting that he was sure he had a 
pistol concealed about him, and he did not desire 
to be shot. To shoot him in a fair fight was im- 
possible ; fists were not to be mentioned ; but the 
thought of being dogged by that implacable, senti- 
mental boy was carefully to be considered. 

I’ll reflect a moment, Mr. Ford,” he said. 

There was a dead silence in the room while he 
walked up and down. He stopped presently be- 
fore Tempe, and deliberately scanned her ; she did 
her best to banish all vestige of expression from 
her face, and succeeded tolerably well. Mr. 
Brande looked upon him with anger. 

am looking at you,” said Mr. Garfield, “to 
learn what my taste and fancy may do for me with 
a different type of woman from the one I have lost 
so much time with, and — Brande, excuse me, — so 
much money.” 

He crossed the room, and came face to face with 
Virginia, and it startled him to see in her face an 
expression as determined and as fatal as Sebastian's. 
The support she required had come. 

“ Well,” he said, “ how the matter came out I can 
not say; circumstances have proved stronger than 
the mad impulse that sent me to you that night. 
By the God that made me, Virginia, I would only 


332 


TEMPLE HOUSE. 


have forestalled the clergyman’s benediction — the 
benediction your good father demanded, and wnich 
your pious soul would have entreated for after- 
wards E 

Sebastian shuddered; an awful echo went through 
his spirit. 

Mr. Ford, what do you demand ? ” he asked, 
wheeling round. 

‘‘Write for me the words I have asked for.” 

Virginia pointed to a little morocco case on a 
stand, and Mr. Garfield drew out some paper, upon 
which he wrote a clear and concise explanation, 
sparing himself nowhere ; for he thought there must 
be a settlement with Brande, and the plainer his 
apology, the clearer the public would see that a 
business separation must take place, and he might 
get his money again. 

“ Now,” he said, handing the paper to Sebastian, 
“can the curtain drop on this little farce ? At an- 
other time, to-morrow, perhaps, if the same audi- 
ence comes together, we may enact the same with 
spectacular improvements. Allow me sir, to see 
you to the door.” 

Sebastian, tucking the note in his waistband, 
smiled again. 

“ Receive my thanks for the honor you have done, 
and accept my excuses for the duty thrust upon 
me.” 

They both bowed. 

Sebastian looked with an expression of entreaty 
at Virginia, which she comprehended. 


TEMPLE HOUSE, 333 

It is very late, Mr. Ford. May I ask you to 
spend the remainder of the night with us ? ” 

He turned to Mr. Brande, who, not possessing any 
taste for the dramatic, was unequal to the occassion, 
and merely mumbled a word or two, seconding her 
invitation. Mr. Garfield left the room. 

“ A moment,” begged Sebastian, darting out, and 
opening the outer door. 

“ Mat,” he whispered, “ here it is. Take the 
paper to the Captain. I won’t trust the hound 
here to-night.” 

“ Ay, ay, sir. Has he come to the scratch ? ” 

I think so,” replied Sebastian; “ but he is not 
scratched, I assure you.” 

Mat laughed, dashed into the darkness, and ran 
all the way to Temple House. 

“ It was all a contrived plan between him and 
me,” said Mat triumphantly. “ Blarsted if Mr. 
Ford ain’t as good as an earthquake and a priest 
put together.” 

Damn him,” said Argus sharply, “ he has paid 
his debt to me.” 

Now you will be married ? ” 

“ Now I shall be married,” Argus replied rather 
dreamily. 

“ Now we shall be able to carry on Temple 
House ? ” added Mat, with an anxious accent. 

“ Now,” Argus answered, with an utterly ab- 
stracted voice, we shall carry on Temple House.” 


THE END. 


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JINDERY INC. 


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